LONDON, Ont. - The undefeated Western Mustangs women's softball team look to finish off the season without a loss as they travel to McMaster this weekend for the 2010 Ontario intercollegiate women's fastpitch championship.
The top-seeded Mustangs are seeking their third provincial title in five seasons.
The tournament, which features the Top 8 Ontario regular season finishers and host McMaster, operates on an elimination format. The team that wins four consecutive games in the winner's bracket will be the 2010 champion. If a team loses, they are placed in a separate bracket where they face elimination and must win remaining games, depending on when their first loss occurs.
Although the Mustangs enter the tournament with a perfect record, head coach Pete Lemon is making sure his team enters with the mentality to focus on one game at a time in order to help them to claim the title.
"If we play like I know we can and like we have that will be enough," said Lemon. "Within a tournament like this, any team can beat any team."
During the regular season, the Mustangs proved their superiority as they led the league with 176 runs for and limited their opponents to only 19 runs against.
Lemon said he has confidence that the team will continue to play a strong offensive and defensive brand this weekend, but he said he is looking for a solid pitching performance to help carry the team to the 2010 championship.
"We know that we will hit and we will score, but if our pitchers play well, then that will help us claim a title," said Lemon.
The Mustangs receive a first-game bye on Oct. 22 and will play their first game at 8:45 a.m. on Oct. 23 against the winner of the McMaster-Ottawa game. If the Mustangs are victorious in that game, they will then advance to face the winner of the York-Toronto game at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Two wins would carry Western to the semi-final at 11 a.m. on Sunday. The final will be at 3 p.m. on Sunday. All games are at Mohawk Sports Park in Hamilton.
For scores and updates continue checking back to the Western Mustangs web site at www.westernmustangs.ca or visit Ontario Intercollegiate Women's Fastpitch Association web site at http://oiwfa.org/.
