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By Dan Plouffe
A pair of University of Ottawa Gee-Gees female club teams scored major victories in September but would have preferred to take them in bigger October matches.
For the ultimate squad, that meant an Eastern Canadian championship and a fifth-place finish at nationals, and for the softball crew, it was a mammoth streak-breaker over the perennial queens of the diamond and provincial and national silver medals.
The University of Western Ontario Mustangs softball team hadn’t lost in over 100 games before the Gee-Gees handed them their first defeat in five years on Sept. 15.
“The last two or three years, we always thought we were right next to them,” highlights coach Scott Searle, whose squad lost to Western by a single run on several occasions, including last year’s extra-innings Ontario final. “We were really proud to end that streak.”
The Gee-Gees were a dominant force against everyone else in Ontario and Canada for their respective Oct. 18-20 and Oct. 11-14 championships, earning undefeated records through round robin and playoff play until fallen to the Mustangs in the final on both occasions.
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“We had a great year,” signals Searle, noting their 17-3 regular season record was an all-time best. “It was awesome.”
Commitment was the name of the game for the Gee-Gees. Five players carried 4+ years experience on the team, while new coach Dan Joly traveled from Montreal three times per week to work with the group.
“We’re all quite dedicated,” Searle notes. “It’s really just a culmination of all that hard work.”
University ultimate nationals come to town
The Gee-Gees women’s ultimate team won the late-September Eastern Canadian university championships in Kingston – beating the eventual Canadian champions from the University of Toronto – but couldn’t replicate the feat when they hosted the university ultimate nationals Oct. 18-20 at Ben Franklin Park.
Toronto won every game en route to the title, while uOttawa were the only team to lose just once in eight games, but ended up only fifth nonetheless. After going 5-0 in pool play, the Gee-Gees fell in the quarter-finals to McGill.
“It was not what we were hoping for,” says Gee-Gees captain Kaylee Sparks, a veteran on a team where rookies occupy half the ranks. “We’re still showing everyone the ropes.”
Carleton beat uOttawa for ninth place in the open competition, which Guelph won. Organized by Ultimate Canada along with several Gee-Gees ultimate-related helpers, a combined 30 men’s and women’s teams came to Ottawa for the event.
Even though the Canadian championships are now in the books, the Gee-Gees still have bigger events to come, namely the springtime U.S. university series.
Last year, the Ottawa women moved through their eastern New York division and a regional championship to compete amongst the 20 best U.S. college finalists in Wisconsin, placing 13th.
“Just to make that tournament in the first place is a huge honor,” Sparks signals. “It’s bigger than anything in Canada.”
Competitive club challenges
It’s a similar scenario for both uOttawa competitive clubs – their training commitments are similar to Gee-Gee varsity sports teams, but the financial commitments for participants are far larger.
The ultimate team attends 6-8 tournaments per year, covering their travel costs, including flights if necessary. They practice four times a week for 2-3 hours, and players also go to the gym and find time to get in extra throws on their own.
“Practice time is not for working on your throws or fitness,” explains Sparks, whose lone off-season month is December before winter practices in the gym or dome start up. “It’s a pretty big commitment.”
The softball ladies train three times a week and play every weekend during their season, renting community fields as far away as Orleans for home games. They travel far more than any of their Ontario opponents from around Toronto, and receive amongst the least funding from their school, notes Searle, whose team struggled to survive with only 11 players able to commit to the squad this season.
“We do more with less,” he adds. “I’m really proud of the athletes for putting it all together and making it work.”
uOttawa’s Kiersten Klekner-Alt was third at the Ontario university women’s golf championships, while Carleton’s Samantha Coates and Sheila McKeen also cracked the top-10.
Ottawa native Matthew Christie, the Ontario lightweight men’s single rowing champion, was named Ontario university oarsman of the year for Queen’s.