A trio of South Delta softball standouts are helping the UBC Thunderbirds women’s softball team make a late push for a berth in the Cascade College Conference playoffs.
The Thunderbirds capped a busy weekend in Idaho by splitting a neutral site doubleheader with Oregon’s No. 13 ranked Corban Warriors to now sit at 8-13 in conference play.
Chantelle Twynstra has wasted little time in making an impact at the university level of women’s softball.
The Tsawwassen standout, who led the South Delta Invaders to the U18 B.C. and Western Canadian rep “B” championships last summer, was outstanding in pitching her third straight complete game on Friday in a 3-1 loss to Eastern Oregon. She allowed just four hits over seven innings.
A week earlier she surrendered just three hits and struck out six as UBC clinched a series win over College of Idaho with an 8-1 game three triumph.
“Chantelle was exceptional,” said UBC coach Gord Collings said. “She showed so much poise and confidence for a first-year player. I am very pleased with her development and am looking forward to her being an impact player for us for many years.”
Twynstra began the impressive stretch with yet another three-hitter in a 3-2 win over Montana’s Providence Argonauts. She is pacing the UBC pitching staff with a 2.33 ERA this season.
In the series finale win against Eastern Oregon, Ladner’s Paige Harbord, a fourth-year student who transferred to the program from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, scored three runs on a pair of hits to lead the offence. She also had a productive series in the split with Corban.
Harbord is now second in team batting with a .324 average.
The UBC roster also features pitcher Zoe Gillis. The fourth-year Delta Secondary graduate picked up her third win of the campaign on Friday in a nine-inning 9-5 triumph over Eastern Oregon.
She threw 141 pitches in going the distance. Last month, she threw a complete game three-hitter in a 1-0 win over Southern Oregon.
The Thunderbirds have now won six of their last nine games as they battle back from last month’s eight game losing streak. They are at Softball City this weekend in Surrey for four-game series with Northwest University.
