WINDSOR, Ont. – The UBC Okanagan Heat women's softball team made it back-to-back years on the podium at the Canadian Collegiate Softball Association (CCSA) National Championship on Sunday as they claimed the bronze medal with a 7-0 win over the Durham College Lords.
 
One year after claiming the national championship on home turf, the Heat once again claimed a medal against the best teams in Canada thanks to an outstanding pitching performance from Mikhaela Muir of Okotoks, Alta. The third-year pitcher threw a one-hit, complete-game shutout in the bronze medal game en route to being named a tournament all-star.
 
Also contributing in the victory on Sunday was centrefielder Kasey Wright of Richmond, B.C. The fifth-year veteran went 3-for-4 from the leadoff spot while driving in a run to also claim a spot on the tournament all-star team.
 
UBCO got off to a quick start in the contest as they scored two unearned runs in the opening inning following by one more in the bottom of the second, off a Wright double.
 
The Heat would tack on another run in the fourth thanks to a solo homerun from Sheyanne Lawrence of Kelowna, B.C., before adding another run in the fifth on another error.
 
UBCO would complete the scoring in the sixth inning as Wright scored on a passed ball while rookie Cheyenne Simicak of Surrey, B.C., singled home the final run for the Heat.
 
That would be more than enough for Muir who won her third game of the tournament by striking out five over six innings.
 
Muir would finish the tournament pitching 27 and two-thirds innings, appearing in all six games for the Heat. Along with her three wins, she added one save and 23 strikeouts on the mound while contributing four hits and an RBI at the plate.
 
As for Wright, she batted an impressive .522 in six games, picking up 12 hits along with two runs batted in.
 
The Heat reached the bronze medal match after finishing pool play with a 2-1 record, losing only to the eventual champions, the host St. Clair College Saints.
 
Facing the Humber College Hawks in the quarter-finals, the Heat got RBI's from five different players to edge the Toronto-based club 6-5.
 
UBCO lost a narrow contest to the Western Mustangs, 6-4, in the semifinals, to dash their hopes at a repeat but still managed to mine a medal with their best performance of the week in the bronze medal game.