Stettler’s two U14 girls’ softball teams combined its best players to create a team to head to the Red Deer Rage U14 Fastball tournament and the combination was gold as the team won its second tournament victory.
The June 7-8 tournament in Red Deer saw the local girls at bat against the Red Deer White, a team they defeated thanks to the superb pitching efforts of Raina Thomson and Mikayla Torgerson, according to Shelly Morbeck.
Next up at plate was Sedgewick, a team that Stettler had battled hard against at their home tournament the weekend before. This game was no exception to the teams’ history and it was a hard-fought win for Sedgewick after seven innings, after the team managed to keep Stettler off home plate.
“Jaiden Stotz, pitcher for all seven innings, was spectacular on the mound,” Morbeck said. “The two runs we allowed in the first inning, and one more in the fifth for Sedgewick brought them ahead in the end.”
She noted that despite Stettler getting people on base, the other team’s excellent work kept them from getting them home.
In the last game on Saturday, Stettler faced Red Deer Blue, and the game was an easy end to a tough day, ending 15-8 in Stettler’s favour. Pitcher Rachel Morbeck struck out nearly every Red Deer batter, the elder Morbeck noted.
Sunday morning started with a game against Innisfail, and it was a close contest, according to Morbeck, though it eventually ended 11-7 for Stettler.
With its three wins and one loss record, the girls headed into the gold medal game against Sedgewick, the only team that had defeated them in the round-robin. The girls had a slow start on the bats for the first two innings, leading to a 4-3 lead for Sedgewick.
“Jenny Munholland made a fantastic running catch in center field to turn the momentum in Stettler’s favor,” Morbeck recalled.
The catch helped the team turn around the momentum of the game, and they sent batters home twice in the fourth, twice in the fifth, and five times in the sixth to win the game 12-6.