‘It was like a movie ending’: St. Clair softball wins national title on walk-off double

The St. Clair Saints women’s softball team are national champions, and they won gold in dramatic fashion.

Trailing Humber 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning of Sunday’s Canadian Collegiate Softball Association final in Oshawa, the Saints had the bases loaded with two out. Zahnyah Jackson fell behind 0-2. Then she lined a bases-clearing double to the centre-field fence, and the winning run slid in ahead of the throw for a 5-4 walk-off win.

“It was like a movie ending,” head coach Dwayne Dawson said. “Zahnyah came through with the biggest hit of the year! It was absolute pandemonium and with the support of friends, family and others, the place went crazy!”

“I have never been part of a finish like that in such a big game.”

It’s the fourth national title in program history, and it came against a Humber team the Saints hadn’t beaten all year.

St. Clair wasn’t supposed to be here. The Saints went in as the No. 2 seed from last year’s qualifier and sit third in the OCAA behind Durham and Humber.

“We played a consistent and well balanced round robin,” Dawson said. “Pitching was great, defense and offense were solid with contributions by all.”

The Saints went 2-1 in pool play, beating UBC Okanagan 10-4 and Saskatchewan 14-3 before a 4-3 loss to Western. They then shut out host Durham 3-0 in the semifinal on Sunday morning, in front of Durham’s home crowd.

Danna Juarez was Player of the Game twice. She threw a complete game with 10 strikeouts against UBC Okanagan and a four-hit shutout against Durham. She also came on to pitch a scoreless top of the seventh in the final, setting up the comeback.

Ada Umerah hit two home runs in the tournament, and she and Madison Phillips were named to the all-star team. Jackson was named Player of the Game and MVP of the championship.

Now comes the hard part: coming back down.

“The challenge is now to be able to refocus,” Dawson said. “Everyone is exhausted from a full weekend of softball and emotions so we will need to get back to business.”

The Saints play at Lambton on Tuesday. They’re home Saturday for Senior Day and a doubleheader against Conestoga, then host the OCAA championship at the St. Clair SportsPark diamond from Oct. 22-24.