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Sports Oakville Beaver By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2009 17 Kinsman's slam key blow as Tigers win another title said. "I had just wanted to get a single and get my runners over." Despite Kinsman's recent woes at the MILTON -- Nerissa Kinsman couldn't plate, Tigers coach Ron Larose wasn't surhave picked a better time to break out of a prised to see the Grade 11 student come slump. through. The T.A. Blakelock Tigers shortstop had "She's always been a strong hitter. She been struggling with the bat over the past just hadn't been hitting the ball that well of several weeks, and it appeared those strug- late," he said. "It was like, one of these days gles were continuing in Tuesday's she'll get a hold of one and it's Halton high school girls' softball "As soon as it going to go. She was getting a litleft my bat, it championship game in Milton. tle frustrated, but if you're going Kinsman struck out in her first was gone." to hit one, why not wait until at-bat. In her second plate appeartoday with the bases loaded?" ance, coming in the fourth inning T.A. Blakelock's As thrilling as Kinsman's hit with the bases loaded and one out Nerissa Kinsman was for the Tigers, it was equally in a scoreless game, the 17-yeardeflating for the Titans, although old flailed wildly at a low offering from Holy Holy Trinity captain Kristin Sprukulis still Trinity Titans pitcher Alison Bayzat. felt her team could rally. All was forgotten on the next pitch, how"It was frustrating, but it was a good hit," ever. said the 16-year-old Sprukulis, who pitched Kinsman drove a line drive that split the four scoreless innings and struck out nine Trinity outfielders in right-centre, and she for Trinity. "We thought we could (overcome circled the bases for a dramatic grand slam it). We have that spirit on our team." that accounted for all of Blakelock's scoring But scoring four or more runs in four JIM BRADFORD / SPECIAL TO THE OAKVILLE BEAVER in a 4-2 victory over the Titans. innings off Blakelock's pitching tandem of SPECIAL DELIVERY: T.A. Blakelock's Jessica Stanley delivers a pitch during Tuesday's Halton high The Halton championship was the Tigers' Tina Andreana and Jessica Stanley is a tall school girls' softball championship game in Milton. Blakelock defeated the Holy Trinity Titans 4-2. third in a row, and second straight finals win order at the best of times. over Trinity. Blakelock outlasted the Titans in The duo limited the Titans to four hits, Stanley to graduation this summer, which fill." That's music to the ears of the Titans, who extra innings to claim the 2008 title game. striking out 15. Trinity's Misty Hammel will make winning a fourth straight Halton Kinsman, a member of all three Blakelock broke up the Tigers' shutout bid with two out title a lot more difficult next spring. Carling will return almost all of their team. "We want that trophy," Sprukulis said. championship teams, said she knew when in the bottom of the seventh, clubbing a two- Watson and Nicole Archer also won't be "They've got it three years in a row, but she made contact that she'd done something run triple, but Andreana struck out the next back. "We're losing a pretty good chunk of play- we're getting that next year. We're coming special. hitter to end the game. "As soon as it left my bat, it was gone," she Blakelock will lose both Andreana and ers," said Larose. "It'll be a pretty big hole to back." Devils blanked in girls' soccer final By Kevin Nagel METROLAND WEST MEDIA GROUP MILTON -- Samantha Bright's hustle from first minute to last might put the Notre Dame senior girls' high school soccer team in a hole at the start of today's (Thursday's) all-Ontario championships in Niagara Falls. Bright scored the winning goal less than a minute after the start of Tuesday's Halton high school AAAA championship game, leading the Irish to a 4-0 victory over the Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils at Lions Park. It was the Irish's eighth straight Halton title. With less than a minute remaining in the match, however, Bright collided with OT netminder Cherryl Connell, a knee-to-knee exchange with Bright coming out the worse of the two. Notre Dame coach Casey Downey said it GRAHAM PAINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER was too early to tell if the injury was serious HAND-ON APPROACH: Oakville Trafalgar keeper Cherryl Connell (left) comes out to play the ball away from the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (in white) Tuesday in Milton. OT fell 4-0 to the Irish in or not, but was optimistic because the hit was straight on, with no twisting of the knee. the Halton high school senior girls' AAAA soccer final. The Irish, seeded No. 2 at OFSAA, showed why against the Red Devils, who gave Notre Dame a tough time in a 2-0 league loss earlier this year. "We certainly didn't go into today's game thinking it would be easy," said Downey. "They're a well-coached, talented team" said OT coach Jeff Gruber. "Our goal was to try to slow them down. We're a young team." The Red Devils will lose three key players to graduation, however -- Connell and cocaptains Lindsay Hudson and Sarah Wojcik. Midway through the first half, the Irish clicked for two goals in one minute, the first when Cara Cutaia beat Connell to a loose ball in the goal area, the second when Jesse Shugg headed in a perfect corner kick from Cutaia. Kristen Heizler added a late goal after beating two defenders with some deft dribbling down the left side. Melissa McKinnon gained the shutout for the Irish, making good saves the few times she was tested.