Gold Out of 46 Teams. Injured Players. An Exhausted Pitcher. The Haldimand Heat 2010 Girls Did Not Care

Forty-six teams showed up to the U17 Tier 2 2026 Provincial Grand Championships in Stratford this past weekend.

One team went home with the gold medal.

The Haldimand Heat U17 2010 girls went 7-0, outscored their opponents across seven games, and earned the right to represent Ontario as ON1 at the Eastern Canadian Championships in New Brunswick this August.

They did it with injuries. They did it with an exhausted pitcher. They did it with an entire batting order that refused to stop producing from the first inning of the first game to the last out of the gold medal final.

This was not a fluke. This was a team that knew exactly what it was capable of and went out and proved it.

Setting the Stage

The Haldimand Heat arrived in Stratford with a target on their backs. A 27-8-1 record coming in. A roster full of players who have been competing together for years. A program from Jarvis, Ontario that does not get the attention of the bigger city programs but has been quietly building something real.

Coach Brad Stark, Stacey Ellins, and Lenny Ellins had prepared this group all season for exactly this moment.

The Heat needed to go through 46 teams to get to where they wanted to be. They did not drop a single game along the way.

Seven Games. Seven Wins.

The Heat opened Friday with a 14-2 statement win over Lucan-Ilderton. Hailey Ellins, playing through injury and unable to take her normal spot in the field, stepped into the designated hitter role and made every at bat count. She opened the tournament with a home run, went 4 for 5, scored 5 runs, and stole 5 bases in that first game alone. That is what playing through adversity looks like.

Sarah Longboat set the tone on the mound from the very first inning. She threw 6.2 innings, struck out 10, and allowed just 2 runs. The Heat had arrived.

Game two against EG Rise was 15-8. Morgan Stark went 4 for 5 and stole 4 bases. Lola Rae drove in 4 runs. Claire Taylor scored 4 times. Sarah Longboat threw all seven innings.

Saturday brought two more dominant performances. The Heat run-ruled Port Perry 19-3 in three innings. Claire Taylor delivered one of the most electric plays of the entire tournament, an inside-the-park grand slam that had the Heat bench erupting. Lola Rae added a triple and a double with 4 RBI of her own. Then against Halton Hawks, Sarah Longboat threw a complete game shutout in four innings, 16-0, with Hailey Ellins, Lola Rae, Morgan Stark, and Kayli Sault all having multi-hit games in a display of pure offensive depth.

The entire batting order from one through nine was contributing. This was not a team carried by two or three players. This was nine hitters showing up every single inning.

Sunday. Three Games. A Championship.

Sunday is where this weekend became a story worth telling.

The Heat opened with a 10-4 win over Brantford. Sarah Longboat threw all seven innings and struck out five. Hailey Ellins hit a triple and a double. Morgan Stark and Kayli Sault continued to pile up hits throughout the order.

Then came Woodstock Nationals in Game 6. An 8-7 win that was tight from the first pitch to the last out. Lola Rae launched an out-of-the-park home run that gave the Heat the edge they needed. Hailey Ellins went 3 for 4. Sarah Longboat threw all seven innings for the third time on Sunday, grinding through a game that could have gone either way.

When that final out was recorded against Woodstock, the Heat had clinched their spot at Eastern Canadians in New Brunswick. They were going to Easterns!

But they still had a gold medal game to play.

Brielle Bomberry Steps Up

This is the moment that separates good teams from great ones.

The Heat entered the championship game against Saugeen Shores with Sarah Longboat running on fumes. She had thrown six of the team's seven games. She was exhausted. And Hailey Ellins, the team's most electric player, was managing an injury that had kept her out of the field all weekend.

Someone had to step into the circle for the gold medal game.

Brielle Bomberry answered the call.

She threw all seven innings of the championship game. She struck out five. She allowed 10 runs to a Saugeen team that was not going to go quietly but she kept making pitches when it mattered most and kept her team in the game long enough for the offence to take over.

And the offence delivered.

Starley Longboat went 4 for 4 with 5 RBI in the championship game. A player who stepped into a pressure moment on the biggest stage of the weekend and produced the most complete performance of anyone on the field. Morgan Stark hit a triple and drove in 3. Kennedy Beck scored 3 times. Sarah Longboat, moved to third base for the final game, contributed 2 hits.

Final score 11-10.

Gold medal. Provincial champions. Ontario 1.

The Players Who Made It Happen

Sarah Longboat was named the team's Top Player of the weekend and it is impossible to argue with that decision. She pitched six of seven games. She threw complete games on back to back to back days on Sunday alone. Her consistency and determination on the mound gave this team a chance to win every single time she took the ball.

But this weekend belonged to every player in that lineup.

Hailey Ellins played injured all weekend and was still one of the most dangerous hitters on the field. A home run. A triple. A double. Stolen bases. She refused to let an injury define her weekend.

Lola Rae launched an out-of-the-park home run, had multiple multi-RBI games, and was a force in the middle of the order from Friday to Sunday.

Claire Taylor delivered the inside-the-park grand slam that brought the bench to its feet and the most clutch moment of the early rounds.

Morgan Stark and Kayli Sault were relentless table-setters all weekend, piling up hits throughout the order and making every inning dangerous from the top of the lineup down.

And Brielle Bomberry, asked to do something nobody plans for, stepped into the circle in the gold medal game and got it done.

The coaches said it best and it is worth repeating.

The entire batting order from one through nine was producing all weekend long. That is not a coincidence. That is a team that prepared for this moment and showed up ready to deliver it.

Something to Build On

This group of girls has done this before. A number of them were part of the Haldimand Heat team that won the Eastern Canadian Championship at the U15 level in 2025. They know what it takes to compete on that stage.

Now they get to do it again. This time as Ontario 1. This time at the U17 level. This time in New Brunswick in August.

Coach Brad Stark, Stacey Ellins, and Lenny Ellins have built a program that develops players year after year and puts them in a position to compete when the lights are brightest. The families who made the drives, the sponsors who believed in this group, and everyone who supported the Haldimand Heat throughout this season are part of this gold medal too.

Forty-six teams. Seven games. Zero losses.

Haldimand County, these girls are going to New Brunswick as Ontario 1.

Be proud of them.

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