Stettler Savages U14 girls will have to wait another week before they can complete their provincial championship games, as rain played spoiler in Edmonton the past weekend with the final games being postponed to Stettler.
Although this will give Savages home advantage they are not taking chances with some knowledge of the opposition.
Savages started on a weaker footing, losing a close game to Edmonton High Park 12-9 on Friday, July 8.
“We had a good game just missed out on our opportunities to bring in the winning runs,” said assistant coach Bob Couch.
In their next game on Saturday, July 9 they played Foothills Outlaws out of Calgary and won 10-8.
“Saturday we hit really well and pulled out a mercy rule victory 19-3 over Edmonton SEMSA Hurricanes, so we went into Saturday night knowing we had to win to have a chance to make it to the medal round,” said Couch. “We were up against the Nose Creek Nightmares of Calgary and had a thrilling comeback victory winning 10-7.”
According to Couch, the game featured outstanding pitching from both Delany Epp and Madison McCrindle, with the tie and winning runs being scored on a clutch two strike hit by Megan Coulthard.
“The highlight of the game however may have been a 21-minute rain and lightning delay that featured a rounding rendition of centrefield,” added Couch. “We were down 7-2 when the rain came down and I think the break was just what the girls needed as they relaxed and got on the bats.”
That moved the girls into a tiebreaker on Sunday morning, once again against the Nightmares, which saw another rain delay, giving the team a break as they took an 8-6 lead when the game started.
“After the Calgary team tied the game we went to extra innings to decide who would move on,” said Couch.
As Savages won the game and got ready to play their next game, it started pouring, which has moved the semi-finals and finals to next weekend in Stettler.
Stettler Storm Peewee AA remain unbeaten
As Stettler Storm took on Beaumont BoSox on Thursday, July 7 in Stettler, it seemed that they were not making much ground, and as the game progressed, their chances of making a comeback whittled away with the opponents taking a 7-2 lead.
But soon the Stettler players got their act together and played a few gritty innings to win 8-7 in an exciting game.
On Saturday, July 9 they played Parkland Twins at the Henry Singer diamond in Spruce Grove, beating them 18-8 in a five-inning mercy.
Marcus Laisnez threw great and was the winning pitcher, while Mason Perry closed the game.
On Sunday, July 10, Stettler beat Slave Lake Heat in Beaumont 18-8, with the winning pitcher being Reece Kranzler, Shay Anderson relieving and Riley Turre getting the save.
“These last three play down games have really shown us coaches that we have a group that not only stays positive throughout the game, but they never back down no matter what,” said coach Brent Kranzler. “Everyone has a certain role to fill on this team and they’ve been very successful doing so.”
According to Kranzler, their batting order from top to bottom have come in at some point and won them games.
“We certainly are taking each game one inning at a time and the kids are proving to other teams we can stand up to anyone,” added Kranzler. “It will get tougher and there is a lot of work to do yet this season but the 9-0 start is a good indication that we have a good buy in by all players and coaches and we as coached are very pleased and proud of the team we have this year.”