While they were playing some elite ball heading into the provincials in Stonewall this past weekend, the smaller schools St. Joachim/Réal-Bérard were perhaps viewed as underdogs, but the team was relentless both at the plate in the field on their way to capturing the fastpitch provincial title.
Head Coach Pat Tetrault says he's still soaking in that his team are the provincial champs. "It feels fantastic," Tetrault says with a big smile. "I got to say, it's been pretty amazing."
Going into the weekend, there was lot for Tetrault to like about his team but he says they elevated further throughout the weekend. "We've got a pretty sweet crew there, a lot of really good ball players who have been training for an event like this for a while. We have a lot of girls playing AAA and being able to bring some other girls and bringing the bats together, the whole team came together. We knew it was going to be a challenge, there were going to be good teams ahead of us, but we were focused on the weekend and it feels pretty good to say that we won."
Looking back over the course of the tournament, Tetrault says there were a lot of highlights but the tone setting moment happened early. "One of the best moments for me came in the first game of provincials. We had bases loaded and our first hit of the game was Émilie Carrière with a grand slam home run to put us up 4-0, first inning of our first provincial game. Gave the girls some confidence and we rolled to 16-0 victory. That set the tone for the weekend, that our bats would set the tone or respond. We went on to Saturday morning and I don't know if it was the early morning game but we kind of booted the ball around to start the quarterfinals, but the girls kept their calm, got positive and the bats got going. We went onto the semifinals and from there, the girls just wouldn't stop hitting balls and putting them into play. Our bats were on fire. We were making big hits, creating problems for opposing pitchers and fielders. Basically, we had an amazing semifinal where we had eight runs in the second inning and we cruised through after that."
As the group went into the finals, they continued to hit the cover off the ball while also getting elite pitching, according to Tetrault. "Our bats woke up again int he finals and we won in a convincing manner. Shoutout to the pitchers, they did an amazing job. We limited the opposition to less than four runs per game. In the end, defense was behind them and everyone on the team contributed from the bats to defensive play, it was fun to watch this group of girls come together and become provincial champions."
Tetrault is most proud of how strong the team was mentally, never getting to high or low, always in a good space and always pulling for each other. "That's the big thing about this game, fastball is a game where you can lose it, especially when you're a high school student. Emotions can run high and we've had some highs and lows. When we started the finals, we gave up a two-run shot in the top of the first, but the team held their composure. Right after that, our pitcher struck out the next two batters and then had a great defensive play at second, and then we got the bats going. Reality is, we had our ups and downs, there were moments in the tournament when we were on the low side but the girls energy, experience and knowledge of the game, just forgetting the negative and building on positive things."
After the final out was made, Tetrault says he made sure to appreciate what this group was able to accomplish, especially when looking on paper as though they'd be the underdogs. "I'm not gonna lie, we have two small schools, I believe we have 189 students in total and we're going up against schools with over 1000 students. We went into the tournament with confidence, because we knew we had the talent, but the reality was we were fighting some Goliaths. We were not guaranteed a win, we knew we had to work for it and for the girls, to see the smiles at the end, it was sheer joy and getting them to share it all together, it was something to see, that's for sure."
2025 MHSAA Provincial High School Softball All-Star Team
All-Stars
Pascale Kihn (St. Joachim / Réal-Bérard)
Chloé Carrière (St. Joachim / Réal-Bérard)
Émilie Carrière (St. Joachim / Réal-Bérard)
MVP
Annabelle Tétrault (St. Joachim / Réal-Bérard)