Bronze for Thunder softball team at provincials
In only their second year together the Medicine Hat Thunder softball team won a bronze medal at provincials. And they’re not done yet. In Leduc Monday for the last day of the under-16 C division championship tournament, Medicine Hat beat the Castor Crush 15-8 for third place after losing 13-3 to Calgary’s SBR Riot.
“Half our team is still U-14 so I think it was a great accomplishment to be honest,” said coach Scott Kelly en route back home. “Both our pitchers were U-14 still. Things are looking up.”
After a fifth-place finish in 2016 — when they were still in the under-14 age division — the Thunder brought more skill and accompanying confidence to the diamond this time around, even though the opposing players were generally a year or two older. They beat Edmonton’s High Park Hurricanes 21-3 Saturday to open the event, then needed extra innings before edging Castor 8-7.
Down 5-3 to the Red Deer Rage in their first game Sunday, a three-run, finalinning rally earned a 6-5 win and guaranteed a spot in Monday’s playoff round. Their only round robin loss was 13-3 to Edmonton’s Wellington Royals.
“Everybody contributed, some played more than others but girls would come in and make a key pinch hit, key baserunning, everybody was super aggressive,” said Kelly, adding his team also showed good killer instinct in the bronze game. “When you win games in dramatic fashion like that, it’s pretty memorable. We were up two runs with one inning to go (against Castor Monday) and the girls put up five runs to mercy their team. It went from being a super close game to mercying them.”
Because the team is double-registered under Softball Alberta and Little League, they get to compete in both associations’ playoffs. Little League’s nationals are later this month in Calgary, with teams coming from Elnora, Alta., Vancouver and Moose Jaw.
The only bad news from the weekend is that because Little League’s age group is under-15, one player on the young Thunder squad won’t get to continue on. The team bade farewell to Ashtyn McKay Monday, but that also means they can return to Softball Alberta under-16 provincials next year with a virtually identical roster.