Multiple Fort Saskatchewan Slider fastball teams took home some hardware last weekend at the GEMSA city finals.
All five teams captured top-four finishes with two gold medals, a silver medal, a bronze medal, as well as a fourth-place finish.
"We are so extremely proud of how far all the girls have come this year," said Ashlee Eaton, the president of the Sliders. "It makes all the hard work from the coaches and volunteers worth it."
"It's a great stepping stone into provincials."
The Sliders have two U13 teams that actually played each other in the finals, marking a best-case scenario for the program.
"That is what we wanted all along is to have both our teams in the finals against each other," said Eaton. "It was a hard-fought battle on both sides."
The U13 Duncan team was eventually victorious over the U13 Kereliuk, winning by a score of 15-9.
The other team to capture the city-final championship was the U11s with somewhat of a Cinderella story.
"They had lost their first two games and then it was do-or-die," said Eaton.
Having put themselves in a 0-2 hole early on they rattled off four straight wins, including a high-scoring 27-25 victory in the semifinals over Sherwood Park, and eventually defeated Legal 15-9 in the finals.
The U19s captured a bronze medal in their bracket. The team started off on a high note, defeating top-seed Leduc 11-10 to open up round-robin play, but eventually fell to Leduc 5-2 in the semi-finals.
Lastly was the U15s who finished fourth, coming up just short in the semi-finals in a 10-6 loss against Parkland.
Next up for the Sliders will be provincials in July as the U15s and U13s will head to Grande Prairie and the U19s will be in Blackfalds.
"They will still be practicing and hopefully will get in a few exhibition games before," said Eaton.
As for now, Eaton is ecstatic to see all the teams have such great endings to their league play.
"We're just so proud of all the girls and all the coaches for all their dedication this season and it was great watching them grow and succeed."