RICHMOND, B.C. – Two runs in the top of the seventh inning allowed the visiting Simon Fraser Clan to escape with a 6-5 victory over the UBC Thunderbirds in softball action on Tuesday evening at Richmond's London Park.
 
"Well, they sure showed it today that they can play anybody," said UBC head coach Phil Thom of his players.  "The fortunate thing is that 15 of our 16 players will be back and we've signed two or three kids that we figure can help us by adding some speed and a little bit of power.  Overall, we hope we can start the next season the way we just ended this season."
 
SFU's Megan Durrant led off the seventh inning with a home run off rookie reliever Jamie Randall (Richmond, B.C.) to tie the game at 5-5.
 
Then Sammie Olexa doubled to centerfield before Kaitlyn Cameron drew a walk from Randall, who was then replaced by Alana Westerhof (Delta, B.C.).
 
The winning run came later in the inning with two outs and Olexa on third base and Cameron on second.  Carly Lepoutre nailed a hard grounder to shortstop Jess Hodge (Vancouver), who knocked the ball down and tagged out Cameron as she tried to head from second to third.
 
But Olexa crossed home plate just before that final out for the winning run.  She ended the game with four runs batted in.
 
The Thunderbirds played impressive softball to take the lead on their crosstown rivals.
 
UBC fell behind 3-0 right off the bat in the top of the first inning but answered with two runs in bottom of the third.
 
Randall led off with a single, and then advanced to second on a Sarah Hillsdon (Langley, B.C.) bunt single.   A Yasmin Bains (Richmond, B.C.) bunt moved the runners up a base.  An error by Lepoutre on a ball hit by Carlyn Shimizu (Richmond, B.C.) allowed Randall to score.
 
Then Hodge drove a grounder to SFU shortstop Leah Riske, who stepped on second to get one out but she was charged with an error for her throw to first base as she tried to complete the double play. Hillsdon scored the second run of the inning for UBC, both unearned, to close the gap to 3-2.
 
After SFU added another run in the top of the fifth, UBC tied the game with two in the bottom half of the inning. Shimizu singled to center field to lead off. Hodge then doubled to right field, allowing Molly Gosnell (Sunnyvale, Calif.) to drive in Shimizu with a base hit. Gosnell was brought home on a Lindsay McElroy (Delta, B.C.) single to right field.  That was the fifth hit of the inning for the Thunderbirds as they tied the game at four runs apiece.
 
UBC took the lead in the top of the sixth inning as a single from Hodge scored Shimizu, who had doubled in the previous at-bat.  That gave the Thunderbirds a 5-4 lead going into the final inning.
 
Hodge was 2-4 from the plate and drove in two runs in her last game in a T-Bird uniform.
 
"We're going to miss her dearly," said Thom after the game. "We only wish we had another dozen of her.  She's truly been a leader on and off the field.  Hopefully, we can groom somebody else on the team who can step up and take part in what she's done for us."
 
Gosnell had one RBI and three hits in four plate appearances, while McElroy accounted for the other UBC RBI.
 
Randall, Shimizu and Hillsdon all had two hits.  Randall also pitched four strong innings in relief of starter Nicole Day (Surrey, B.C.), giving up three runs but was also tagged with the loss to drop her record to 4-4.
 
Thom was proud of how his team battled back after falling behind early.
 
"We learned not to quit," said Thom. "The game is seven innings.  You play to the last out."
 
"The last three weeks of practice for this one game really showed up, it really helped. Unfortunately, we don't have any more games at the end of the season here."
 
The Thunderbirds will not be making a postseason appearance and will finish the regular season with a record of 13-25, with one game called because of darkness while tied.