The University of Toronto Varsity Blues softball team dropped a 9-5 decision to the Guelph Gryphons in their first game of the 2018 OIWFA Championship on Saturday, October 13 in Ottawa, Ont.

The Blues then saw their 2018 campaign come to an end following a heartbreaking 6-5 loss to the Ottawa Gee-Gees

Saturday morning the No. 7 Guelph Gryphons (8-8) drew the favoured Toronto side, with Taylor Wright in the pitching circle for Toronto. The Blues got off to a quick start, shutting down the Gryphons in the first inning, then going out and scoring two runs, led by leadoff hitter and OIWFA all-star Erin Sullivan. Sullivan led off with a single, driven in by Wright on a long double, who was driven in by left fielder Kristen Naidu. The second inning saw much of the same, with a zero on the board for Guelph before two more Toronto runs. Jessica Tamayo got things going with a single, as did Sullivan again, driven in again by Wright and then Kylie O'Donnell to make the score 4-0. That's where the offence stopped though and Toronto was held to just one more run from Tamayo, who stole two bases to get to third and scored on an error from Guelph. The Gryphons took over to come back for the 9-5 win.

After the tough loss to Guelph, the Varsity Blues got matched up with the host Ottawa Gee-Gees. The regular season saw a split of the double header played in Toronto, so a close, tough game was expected, and that's exactly what the fans saw. In front of a large crowd from both sides, Ottawa stormed out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first inning against second-year pitcher Samantha Cotton. Taylor Wright returned back to the circle to tidy things up and she was excellent the rest of the way, giving up just two more runs in the seventh inning. The Toronto offence was held down, but capitalized on some errors and got two runs back in the second inning. Then, two more in the fifth on a triple from O'Donnell, driven in again by Naidu. The seventh inning brought fireworks, from both teams, with Ottawa scratching the two previously mentioned runs off Wright, to take a 6-4 lead. Toronto came back and got a run on a hotly contested triple from Amanda Deconinck, driving in Alison Feise, which required a protest from the Toronto coaching staff to be upheld. However, 6-5 was as close as the young Blues would get and Ottawa would prevail and head to the quarter-finals.

This 2018 Varsity Blues softball season has seen a lot of potential and promise turn into on field success. After that 11-5 regular season, two straight losses in the playoff tournament looks like a disappointment, but this Varsity Blues team moves forward with an outstanding stable of talent for the 2019 campaign. With at least twelve players eligible to return, the future is bright for this team after gaining this vital year of OIWFA experience. Six first-year and three second-year athletes mark the new wave of talent that will carry the program forward into next year and beyond.

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