It was a special run for Kelsey Warkentine, who was named Most Outstanding Player for the provincial tournament, as well as the U17 Eastman Wildcats who claimed the gold, and now, the group is all set to head to nationals in Warman, Saskatchewan starting July 30th.
"Our team never gave up," Warkentine says with a champions tone. "We came in doubting, and came out with the gold, which is absolutely crazy."
Facing adversity was not a big deal for this team, and a main reason Warkentine says is because the group is so close. "It's crazy, I've been with these girls for more than seven years. We've had the same group of girls, sure, we added a few more this year, but they've all been family. We all love each other."
Going through the provincial tournament undefeated, Warkentine says the group was riding high heading into the playoffs. "It was for sure a boost in momentum. Going on no losses, we went into the gold medal game with no saddness, we were all ready to go and we were ready to pounce on the team that we played in the morning. It was great."
Being a power house team and going undefeated, Warkentine says the group never really felt pressure to be perfect, they just knew this year, this team, it was their time to get the job done. "I think that we've had five years to think about it, and those five years we lost. This year, we went in peace, we played our hearts out, and we didn't think about it. We tried hard, we battled, coach put every ounce of stuff he put in, and we just tried our best. It came out our way this year."
Warkentine laughs and says it was more relief than anything else when the final out was made. "Finally. It was was a breath of fresh air. The gold compared to the silver, it's just crazy."
Personally, Warkentine says she felt like she had a strong tournament. "I felt like I did really well. I had the peace, and God really helped me through this weekend. Other years, I've felt pressure, but this year, I went in just thinking that if we're going to win, we'll win. I was very happy with how I played, and I'm going to continue it on to nationals, and hopefully keep it going."
Being named Most Outstanding Player caught Warkentine a bit off guard. "So many people could have gotten it, Jo with our last play, everyone hitting the ball, it was outstanding that we got the runs first and that pushed us to win the game. I was happy receive it, but so many other people could have gotten it."
As exciting as she is to have won gold and been named Most Outstanding Player, it's no secret that Warkentine is most excited about continuing on playing with the special group of girls. "I'm so excited to keep going with this group. They are amazing, and having the hotel fun, going in and playing the amazing games with these girls, I'm just so excited."
It's going to be a competitive tournament, but Warkentine feels the group is going in confident and ready to make some noise. "We're for sure going to have some serious competition. Manitoba is a quite small place for softball, but we're going to put up as much competition as we can, and we're going to go for some hardware."
After spending years and years together, Warkentine will make sure to take in the special moments with a group that has worked so hard to earn their spot. "It's going to be crazy, the amount of years we've done this, growing up it's crazy, these girls are my best friends and I'm so excited to have this experience with them, and I'm going to soak up all the memories with them."
The U17 Eastman Wildcats leave for Saskatchewan today, and communities around the province will be sending them off with well wishes.