HALDIMAND — Raise a toast to the champs! The Haldimand Heat U15 girls have returned home with gold medals around their necks from the Eastern Canadians, where they faced and defeated teams from Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.
“We played nine games total and only lost one out of the nine,” said team manager Stacey Ellins.
That loss was handed to the team during the round robin stage by a team from Quebec that Ellins described as a really strong competitor. The loss set the stage for a championship game that saw the Heat face Quebec again, this time with gold on the line.
Despite being down early in the final, the Heat staged a late game rally, driving the score to 7-5 to win the tournament.
The victory caps a season that saw the Heat dominate a number of tournaments, including two silver medals from the Provincial Grand Championships and Battle at the Beach, and four gold medals from the Provincial Qualifiers, Grand Valley League U15 T1, Barrie Bash Champs, and finally the Eastern Canadians.
Ellins said that while the team had to produce offensively, because “without hits and runs you can’t win a game,” the tournament ultimately came down to a pitching battle – one that Haldimand’s pitchers were ready for.
“We had some really strong pitching happening; the girls were on. It all came together in the end. They all had to come together as a team. It was a well-rounded weekend for the girls, everybody was on their game,” said Ellins. “They wanted it, obviously.”
The team called up two additional pitchers from teams in Palmerston and Lucan to join them for the tournament.
Ellins explained of the expanded roster, “We needed the pitching depth. You play nine games back-to-back – it’s a lot for just a couple pitchers on the Haldimand team. It was nice to have those girls there to help support the team and get us to the championship game.”
She expressed pride at the team’s professionalism, positive attitude, and the down-home grit, calling every member excellent ambassadors for their home community.
“At the beginning going into it, the girls didn’t realize what an accomplishment it was to even get there. They weren’t cocky coming into it,” said Ellins. “They were proud to be there representing Haldimand, representing Ontario. Taking the whole tournament was just icing on the cake; it was a bonus. They were proud to be there regardless of the outcome and super ecstatic that we took home gold to bring that back to Haldimand, for sure.”
She credited the team’s success on the past two years of playing and learning together. Since the majority of the 2024 team remained this year, they were able to build on their chemistry and put in the effort to improve as individuals and as a team.
Ellins concluded, “They should be very, very proud of themselves. It was an accomplishment.”
