SARNIA – You only get one chance to make a first impression.

Reid King (Men’s Baseball) and Kyra Joseph (Women’s Softball) made sure their first impressions on the 2024 OCAA season were ones to remember.

As a result, King and Joseph have been named the Lambton Student-Athletes of the Week for the opening week of the season.

King played a key role in helping the Lambton Men’s Baseball Program open the season with a pair of road wins over their 402 rivals from Fanshawe. The second-year first baseman / outfielder hit a combined .500 at the plate across the two games, racking up five RBIs and his first-career home run as the Lions swept the Falcons 7-4 and 15-9 at Labatt Memorial Park.

In Game One, King registered just one at-bat in the box score as he drew a walk in the second inning and later recorded both a sacrifice fly and a sacrifice bunt. He recorded a pair of RBIs in the win, including the game-tying run in the sixth inning on his sacrifice fly.

Game Two is where King made his mark on the afternoon. He went 3-for-5 in the game, finishing a triple shy of the cycle as the Lions completed the sweep of the Falcons with a 15-9 win.

It was in the third inning where King made his statement. With two men on, King got all of a pitch from Fanshawe reliever Alex Miller and sent the ball soaring over the left field wall and into the Thames River for his first-career OCAA home run.

First-year pitcher / first baseman Kyra Joseph left her mark in a big way on the OCAA softball landscape during her first regular season games. Over the weekend, Joseph did a bit of everything at the plate, on the mound, and in the field as the Lions split their first four games of the season.

On the mound, Joseph made a pair of starts over the weekend, one each day. She started against Humber on Saturday in her regular season pitching debut, lasting three innings but coming away with the loss. She bounced back on Sunday against Seneca, throwing a modified complete game while allowing just one hit and striking out six.

She had a 4.00 earned run average and eight strikeouts to her credit through two appearances.

At the plate, she hit a combined .500 over the four-game stretch on opening weekend. Joseph recorded seven RBIs, five of which came at home on Sunday afternoon against the Bruins (2) and Sting (3). Against the Sting, she was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with four runs scored, and she recorded her second triple of the season in the 21-2 win for the Lions.

Congratulations to both Reid and Kyra on being named this week’s Lambton Student-Athletes of the Week!

The 2024-25 Athlete of the Week awards are presented by the Lambton College Student Administrative Council.