Rebels top Lords in wild ball final

Rebels top Lords in wild ball final

Down to their last strike, the Georgetown Rebels scored twice in the bottom of the eighth inning to rally yet again on Thursday and win their third consecutive Halton Secondary School Athletic Association senior girls' softball championship, defeating Nelson 8-7 at Ireland Park in Burlington. The Rebels had won all 11 of their games heading into the Halton final, yet were shut down for the most part yesterday until an eventful sixth inning, when they trailed Nelson 5-1. Nelson is coached by former Rebel field boss Jim Hall, who oversaw several championships during the 1990s at GDHS. Controversy still surrounds the outcome of Thursday's final as Hall filed a protest during the game when it was ruled by the umpire that his final remaining pitcher was ineligible to continue because the coach visited the mound twice to speak with his player. A ruling is expected today (Friday). Without any of his regular pitchers left, the Rebels scored four times to tie the score and eventually won the contest in extra innings-- and not without plenty of drama. Nelson, which finished the regular season at 5-1, scored a run in the top of the eighth to take a 7-6 lead and then got the first two Rebels out in the bottom of the inning. Georgetown batter Jessica Haffner had a two-strike count on her before fouling off three pitches, then drove Melissa Eady in from second base with the tying run. Winning pitcher Abby Lyons, who is also the team's home-run leader, drove in the winning run with a single up the middle. "What's great about this team is that everyone can hit, everyone can play defence and we just have a good allaround ball team," Lyons, a Grade 11 student, said. In Wednesday's semi-final at the Georgetown Fairgrounds, the Rebels scored two in the second inning and four more in the fifth against previously undefeated T.A. Blakelock of Oakville and prevailed 6-2. Lyons broke the game open with a three-run homer to the opposite field in that fifth inning. The visitors scored two unearned runs in the sixth to make it interesting, but Georgetown's defence and pitching were otherwise solid through the rest of the game.