Oshawa school adds provincial title to national crown in women’s softball

The Durham Lords women’s softball team capped off a perfect season in emphatic fashion, trouncing Humber College 8-0 in the provincial championship just days after besting the west Toronto school 7-1 for the national title.

The best part of provincial crown? The team did it at home at Babcock Field in Oshawa after travelling to suburban Ottawa for the nationals.

The Lords finished the season at 32-0 with their 22nd provincial championship and first since 2021. Durham outscored their opposition 336-55 this year, including 23-1 at the provincials.

“We starting putting this thing together about a year ago, went after the best talent we could find, and we’re so fortunate that they came to Durham College,” said head coach Jamie Baker. “When you have this much talent, coaching is easy … I’m ecstatic for the girls who came here, I’m ecstatic for the girls who stayed here and put it all together to have a storybook season.”

Peyton Jones, who was chosen as the MVP of the provincials (as well as OCAA player-of-the-year), said staying focused after already winning at the nationals was a mental game. “After the win at nationals we just kept humble and remembered that every game is a new game,” she said. “You can’t bring past successes into new games so we just had to play hard and stay in a strong mental space.”