The Estevan Elite U12 provincial girls softball team stormed past the competition last weekend at Jaycee Beach Diamonds in Yorkton to capture the 2015 Softball Saskatchewan U12 C Girls – South provincial championship.
The Elite beat the Redvers Red Sox 9-3 in the final last Sunday afternoon to claim the title after dispatching the Oxbow Angels in the semis and going 4-0 during round-robin play.
Daniel Paysen, head coach of the Estevan Elite U12 girls softball team, said his players were “pumped” for the final game after finding out they would be facing Redvers and that energy showed itself on the field. He said the Red Sox were the one team in the round-robin play that gave the Elite a scare, as they had to come back to beat them, but in the championship Estevan never trailed and knocked out their opponents after six innings.
“I’ve never seen them that motivated to go,” said Paysen. “The pitchers were bang on. We ran two of our three pitchers (starter Madison Flaman and Katie Milbrandt with Kaylee Carson holding the third spot) and they did a heck of a job. Our second baseman Reese Madsen, it’s her first year and she made some unbelievable snags off line drives. The girls were just playing great. They were ready to play.
“The star back catcher was Mya Waloshin. She was unbelievable in the tournament. She was the catcher every single inning for us in every single game.”
Paysen said the main obstacle for the Elite during the July 10 to 12 provincial championship draw was the heat. He said the coaching staff had lots of Gatorade and water ready for the girls and a parent provided a bucket of ice and towels for the team, but the humid conditions made the condensed six-game schedule a challenge.
The Elite U12 provincial team, whose roster was formed in late April from players with the three Estevan squirt house teams, got in some practice time and played a few exhibition games against Weyburn, Caryle and Redvers before the tournament, but with the house league running until the end of June, they were not able to get together very often.
Paysen said a lot of talent from last year’s provincial team also moved up to peewee this season, leaving only three girls from 2014 on this year’s roster. He said a number of girls were also playing their first year of competitive softball and a focus on basics made up most of the practice time, but the girls put in the work to be ready for the provincial tournament.
“We had the best fielding by far out there,” he said. “There were so many (instances) of pinch hits, out-at-firsts and three-up three-downs, that’s all it was.
“Our skills were toned by tournament time.”
Paysen said there was a great turnout of girls to play squirt ball this year with likely the largest number of kids playing the sport in years. He said many girls are moving up next season, but many more are moving into the U12 division and the hope is that the program, in future years, will match the success the Elite U12 provincial girls team achieved this summer.
“They did really, really well. I’m really proud of them. It was all them.”
