The weather was perfect and the rain held off for the provincial qualifiers in Palmerston last weekend.
Great bats and a tight defense saw the Palmerston Marlins beat Aurora 21-1, Peterborough 5-4, then Kanata 8-1, and after an intense game against Stratford, the home team lost by one run, in extra innings, 5-4.
Sunday’s final game against London saw London take the lead and hold it for the first few innings. After a couple of clean innings by pitchers Lexie Bell (Walkerton) and Deanna Ditner (Mildmay) Shae-lynn Reaman (Kenilworth) found herself with a walk. She would be the first runner to score for Palmerston.
The score was 3-1 for London in the bottom of the fourth inning.
London managed another run in at the top of the sixth, but things broke open in the bottom half, starting with Hayley Fischer’s (Mildmay) line drive to right field that saw her cut down at third.
The Marlins held London to a 4-1 score at the top of the seventh and had three singles by Ditner, Bell and Lisa Billiald (Damascus) loading the bases.
Tina Fraser (Wiarton) then stepped to the plate to hit one to left field driving in another two runs to make 4-3 for London.
London’s defence then kept the Marlins to a third place finish, qualifying for the provincial tournament.
The Marlins along with the Stratford Flames, London Lightning, and the Kitchener Classics qualified to battle it out with Enniskellen, Oakville, Brampton and Mississauga at the provincial championships in Enniskellen on Aug 6 to 8.
From there, the Marlins plan to play in the Easterns championships that are being held in Prince Edward Island this year.
