Saints Look Good On Day One Of Provincials

The 2015 and 16', Manitoba provincial fastpitch champions the Portage Collegiate Institute Saints had a strong showing on day one of the Manitoba High School Provincial Fastpitch Championships in Mitchell.

An eight-run third inning led the Saints to an 11-6 win over College Jeanne Sauve in the morning. They followed that up with a 10-0 shutout victory over Major Pratt in their second match of the day. Kassidy Cunningham pitched both games for the Saints. She gave up three runs on three hits with six strikeouts in the first, and four hits with five strikeouts in the second.

"We were good," says head coach Cam Asham. "We had a real good, solid performance in the first game, and then a real good pitching performance from Kassidy Cunningham in the second. So we're definitely happy and moving on to the next step of this Saturday."

The Saints and Olympiens were tied after the first inurning, then the Saints exploded for eight runs in the third to put the game out of reach. Paige Shwaluk went four for four at the plate and scored three runs with two RBIs.

Incredible pitching and strong defence were the keys to victory for PCI in game two. Cunningham looked strong on the mound and when Major Pratt did get a hit, the defence was there to help her out. Their bats got to work early scoring five runs in the first inning. This time it was Kiera Shwaluk leading the way with three hits on three at-bats, she scored twice herself along with two RBIs.

"We talked in our postgame meeting about how we're going to ramp it up a little more in terms of intensity Saturday," adds Asham. "We're going to relax the rest of the day Friday, hit the banquet, get a good rest and go at it (Saturday). We're happy we don't have to play more in the heat before the quarterfinals."

The provincial championship tournament continues for the Saints Saturday morning with the quarterfinals at 9 and 10:45 in Mitchell. The semi's get going at 12:30 and the championship final is at 4.