The Southside Slammers had a winning record throughout the year in U16 girls fastball and finished the season on a winning note at nationals.
The girls, who played in the A Nationals in Delta, B.C. Last week had a slow start to the tournament against some tough competition but recovered enough to win games at the end.
“We went 1-5 in the round robin games,” said Slammers coach Trent Walter. “We had some good games with some really good competition there. We beat a team from Red Deer, and then we lost to some teams from White Rock, B.C., Port Coquitlam, B.C., Victoria, a Winnipeg team and Oakville, Ont.”
With the placing in their pool, the Slammers, who were one of two teams from the province selected to go to the tournament, were moved to the consolation bracket where they fared better.
“There, we played Calgary Kaizen first game and we beat them 6-0,” Walter said. “Then, in the final against Manitoba Thunder, we beat them 5-4 in an extra inning. We fought our way back and we ended up strong at the end.”
Nationals experience was a huge eye opener for the team, which won a couple of tournaments here in Saskatchewan and also placed second in their Regina fastball league. To get to nationals, they finished fourth at provincials and were selected when two of the teams above them were unable to go to nationals.
The season ended well for them.
“All in all, three-and-five out there is a pretty good showing,” Walter said. “The girls competed well and for the most part served Saskatchewan very well. When I headed out there, I figured if we finished .500 in our games, we would be pretty successful and three-and-five is pretty close to that. I think we're pretty happy with the results.”
The round robin featured a lot of high calibre girls softball teams, particularly among the British Columbia teams. Two of the teams in the pool finished third and fourth in the tournament
“They have obviously the numbers and a lot more playing time than we do here on the prairies,” said Walter. “We competed very well. We had a tough pool and the girls did what they could.”
The diamonds played well and the tournament was well organized, he said. But the first couple of days, Walter felt the girls felt overmatched.
“But as the week went on, they got more accustomed to the event and got better,” he said.
With the season now over, the focus turns to next year, which will see about half the team automatically age up a level.
“We're trying to determine if we can make two teams in two different age categories next year or we try to keep them together and move up,” Walter said. “That's something we're going to have to decipher in terms of other talent. That's kind of where it's at.”
The team's overall record on the year was 32-21-1, a hugely successful season for a team in its first year together.
“When you're playing .600 ball, that's pretty good for a first year team at a high level like this.”
