LDSS girls Lightning finalists at Huron-Perth tourney

Slo-pitch to make debut as sanctioned high school sport for 2022-23 season

DAN MCNEE dmcnee@midwesternnewspapers.com

GODERICH – The Listowel District Secondary School (LDSS) girls’ slo-pitch team went the distance in the Huron-Perth championship slo-pitch tournament on June 8 in Goderich, but came up just short in their bid for the title.

LDSS dropped an 8-7 decision in extra innings to South Huron District High School in the tournament finale. The Lightning rolled to the championship game with a 19-3 victory over Central Huron followed by a 12-2 win over Mitchell. Leading for most of the final, South Huron managed to tie the game at 6-6 to force extra innings. With opening inning play solving nothing, the two squads played an international tiebreaker inning (starting play with a runner in scoring position on second base) to determine the winner. LDSS’s Ayvn Duncan would cash in Ashlyn Hill on a double to make it 7-6, but South Huron would score twice in the bottom half of the inning to claim an 8-7 victory.

“The girls hit well, and their defensive play was outstanding,” commented LDSS coach Cathy Bitton. “They played so well defensively the whole game, it was just great ball and great to watch.”

Lauryn Town pitched all three tournament games in her pitching debut. Kamyrn Coombs, Hill and Grace MacLennan all contributed first-inning doubles in the final, with Sadie Long, Town and Anna Hinsperger providing key singles.

The LDSS squad, consisting of 14 roster players, was just over a week removed from participating in the 13th annual PWSA High School Invitational Tournament on May 30 in Drumbo. The Lightning would ultimately bow out of the tournament semifinal to East Elgin, a team that featured players committed to college softball scholarships.

“We did very well all things considered,” said Bitton.

Girls’ slo-pitch approved as permanent Huron-Perth sport in 2022-23

Bitton added that following years of petitioning the HuronPerth Athletics Association, girls’ slo-pitch will become a permanent fixture in regional high school sports starting in 2022-23. LDSS physical education department head Amanda Kaye once again made a request to have girls’ slo-pitch added to the docket permanently to the HPAA council this school year, and it was finally approved. LDSS teams had already been par- ticipating in the non-sanctioned PWSA tournament for over a decade, with Bitton saying it was a long time coming and the team is thrilled with the decision.

“It’s huge,” she said. “We’ve been trying to get this going for a while. These girls want to play ball, and it’s good ball. The rea- son they’ve chosen slo-pitch over softball is mostly to do with pitching. It’s a lot easier to field a team with slo-pitch than it is with softball.

“They just loved it and can hardly wait to play again next year. It was just a tremendous experience for them.”