HAMILTON-WENTWORTH CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
St. Mary wins sixth consecutive slo-pitch title

By Larry Moko

Play ball!

Those words are music to the ears of St. Mary Crusaders' veteran Rylie Harwood.

During the 2021-22 school year Harwood played Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic baseball for the boys' team and slo-pitch for the girls' team. And that's not all. She also takes part in softball and baseball with squads outside of the high school league.

A Grade 12 student, Harwood socked three hits - including a towering first-inning home run - to spark St. Mary to an 11-1 mercy-rule victory over the St. Thomas More Knights in the championship final at Alexander Park Wednesday.

It was St. Mary's sixth consecutive league title.

"In the high school baseball league there might have been one other girl," Harwood said. "I went out in Grade 9 just to give it a shot. I've played baseball since I was about four.

"I've got a game tonight with my Waterdown boys' team. We're playing Milton."

Charley Giudice, coach of the first-place Crusaders, said it was obvious three years ago when Harwood first entered high school that she was a solid slo-pitch player.

"Rylie plays at such a high level," Giudice said of his outfield rover. "She has such a high IQ for baseball. She naturally just remembers where everybody hits it. She can really hit a ball, but what she does defensively may be more important than what she does offensively."

The undefeated Crusaders scored all the runs they needed with four in the first inning. Third-place More's lone run came in the fifth on an RBI single by Jada Dufour.

The winning pitcher was Jade McNicol, who yielded only five hits - three by Dufour.

According to Giudice, there were two turning points for St. Mary this season. He said the Crusaders became a stronger team when Grade 9 student McNicol took over as the starting pitcher and Kendra Ruhl was switched from first base to left field.

Said Giudice: "We had a Grade 12 girl pitch and she did quite well. But we're so much stronger when we can put her on the infield and have somebody younger pitch who can consistently hit the plate. We'll have her (McNicol) for four years.

"Our fortunes kind of changed, too, when we put Kendra in left. We just realized by accident how fantastic she was out there."

Ruhl made the play-of-the-game against the Knights with a diving, shoe-string catch of a fly ball in the fifth inning.

"That was a great catch," More coach Joe Evangelista said. "That's the kind of baseball you want to see."

More topped the second-place St. Jean de Brebeuf Braves, 12-6, and St. Mary blanked fourth-place Newman, 10-0, in semifinal action earlier in the week.

"We worked hard and we improved. That's all we can ask for as coaches," Evangelista said.
Other St. Mary players included Sofia Novo, Hannah Meadows, Sadie Noonan, Madison Pozdrowski, Kira Doyle, Lauren Spennato, Leyla Spennato, Taylor Klyne, Maddie Scime, Ryleigh Kay, Gillian Cunningham, Sarah Cunningham, Emalee McNab, and Chloe Pender.

"It might be a record," Giudice said of St. Mary's six straight championships. "I'm pretty happy about that. I'm pretty sure five was the record before that."

Harwood said she's just glad St. Mary was able to field a slo-pitch team this season. "When we first came out for tryouts, it was a little rough," she said. "We were scared. We had trouble getting a lot of players out to the game.

St. Mary also won one of the two tournaments they participated in.