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Two West Central teams made the trip to Regina this past weekend for the Softball Saskatchewan U19 'C' Girls provincial championship.
The Rosetown Angels and Macklin Lakers helped make up a small four-team field along with the Regina Revenge and Moosomin Predators. After starting the tournament against each other, Rosetown and Macklin took different routes to get into the gold medal game, the undefeated Angels eventually coming out on top in Saturday's championship match.
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The Angels win was the culmination of another season of hard-work, and at times different obstacles. The U19 team rostered players from around the Rosetown area, north to Biggar, Kerrobert, Lucky Lake and Dinsmore.
Member of the team's coaching staff, Bob Clothier, talked about the team and their leadup to provincials.
"Practice hard. Start of the year we were a little soft," said Clothier, as practice makes perfect, but practice was limited. "There's work, other commitments, and grad because there are Grade 12 players on the team."
Clothier said that with things finally settled down a bit, the team was able to practice to their full potential.
With everyone in place, tuned up and ready to go, Clothier was certainly excited at the prospects of what this year's Angels squad could do, and talked about the Angels hot start taking a tournament opening 9-2 win on Friday against a team they know well in the Lakers.
"Played Macklin in our first game... girls were hitting well, played great defense, pitching was awesome." said Clothier on a successful Friday night.
In their first game of the day Saturday, Rosetown beat Moosomin 13-2.
"We hit well all weekend; I was so happy with it. Usually, a bit of a weak spot on our team, but this year it has been one of the stronger points."
The next game was a primetime matchup against Regina, the Angels playing to a 7-5 win to advance directly to Sunday's gold medal game.
"We played well, we had our one pitcher Emily going, and she pitched very well that game." he said, pitching and defense being a key point to hammer home for the coaching staff. "Made very few errors the whole weekend. That was the key, I think. We told the girls all weekend long, the team that makes the least number of errors will come out on top."
While the Angels were stringing together wins, Macklin came back with two wins on Saturday, 6-3 over Regina and then 10-7 against Moosomin. That earned the Lakers a spot in Sunday's semi-final where they beat Regina once again 17-6 to set up an all-West Central final in the provincial capital.
The Angels arrived for the 12:30 PM start early, but the game was delayed while a few protests from the game prior were being resolved. The delay wasn't ideal, but the team was able to settle their nerves once again and take the field for the final.
"Kind of takes your momentum, and your attitude away when you are preparing for the games," started Clothier on the final. "Started off slow in the final, took a bit of a lead (going up 8-2), they tied it 8-8, then in the bottom of the sixth inning with two outs we scored seven runs, and the game was over."
Hanging up another gold, Clothier shouted out his players and a trusty sidekick with him on the bench that has been doing so for years.
"Very proud of these girls. Very proud of my daughter, her and I have coached together for about 17 years, and love every minute of it. Great memories to put back and forth between us."
Giving their finals opponent some credit, Clothier says the matchup against Macklin was just another one for the record books with the two sides knowing each other well.
"We played Macklin a few times... over the years many times. Had very good games with them, and this year they had the upper hand on us going in provincials." said Clothier, though he was confident heading into the weekend with a full team of Angels available on the lineup card.
"Unfortunately, not knocking them, they have a very good team also. But we never had our whole team together to play Macklin. Finally, we had most of the team there, and having those extra bodies that are very capable of handling pressure situations and playing in a certain position they are used to, that makes it more interesting."
Clothier is aware the Lakers were missing some players too but was happy to just write another chapter around the local matchup.
"We have played them many times; they are a good organization. Macklin is very strong in their ball program, and they gave us a good fight in the end which is great. Great to see West Central doing so well in ball."
Softball provincials continue this weekend with more local teams in action.
U19 play continues with the Unity Panthers playing in the 'B' tournament in Saskatoon, and Unity is hosting U15 'B' provincials featuring Kindersley and Macklin as local teams, while in U15 'C' the Rosetown Angels are headed to Regina. A large group of U13 teams are in play with Leader going to Regina for the 'C' South tournament, and Elrose, Biggar, Macklin, Unity, Delisle, Kindersley, and Outlook are in Rosthern for the 'C' North bracket.
Check out the full schedule ahead for the summer in the related articles section below: