Red Deer sisters Kelsey and Hayley Lalor came up just short of winning a national women’s baseball title on the weekend.
The duo teamed up to represent Alberta from Aug. 3-6 in Windsor, Ont. at the Baseball Canada Women’s Invitational Championships and brought home silver.
Team Alberta squared off against Team Ontario in the gold medal game, but lost 15-8.
In the final, Hayley was the starting pitcher but only manged to last one third of an inning after giving up five hits and three earned runs, but seven total. She was relieved by Kelsey, who went 2.2 innings and struck out two batters and allowed two earned runs.
Kelsey picked her sister up with an RBI triple in the bottom of the first and finished the game three-for-four with two doubles and three RBI. She also ended the tournament with the second best batting average at .524. Kelsey also had a win on the mound and seven strikeouts over the course of the event.
Hayley was 6-for-22 in the tournament including two doubles and three RBI.
Alberta opened the tournament with a 13-6 win over B.C., then beat the prospect team 15-14 and Ontario 5-0. Their only loss other than the final came in a high-scoring, 10-9 defeat to Quebec on Saturday.
On Monday, Kelsey was also invited to participate in the Women’s National Team’s 2017 summer program. Thirty-one athletes were selected from the Women’s Invitational Championship tournament.
The players will travel to Washington, D.C., this week and from Aug.9-13 split into two squads that will play a four-game series against teams from USA Baseball.
“We’re very excited to have this opportunity and to partner with USA Baseball on an event that will promote growth and development for both programs,” said Women’s National Team Manager André Lachance in a Baseball Canada press release.
“With 2017 being a non World Cup year, it is crucial for our program to expose as many athletes as possible to international baseball and the highest levels of the women’s game. This event will provide our coaching staff with another opportunity to evaluate talent as we prepare the next Women’s Baseball World Cup in 2018.”
byron.hackett@reddeeradvocate.com