With the way things went for the Moose Jaw Ice in the Moose Jaw and District Minor Girls Fastball U13 AA Tournament on Sunday morning, it would have been easy to think they were in for a short day.
They only managed to get through four innings in their final round-robin game before absorbing a 10-0 loss at the hands of the Regina Lazers.
As it turns out, that would be the last time they’d taste defeat on the weekend.
Thanks to their 2-2 record, the Ice reached the semifinal, where they’d take a 12-3 win over the Regina Fighting Saints to book their spot in the final.
There, it was a rematch with the Lazers, and while Regina once again put up 10 runs, the Ice replied with 17, and Moose Jaw had their U13 AA gold medal.
“Everything that happened, they just got better and better as the weekend went on,” said Ice coach Marie Wright. “We came out this morning and were really flat, but they realized they can play better than that and we just said to them ‘go out and show us what you can do’ and they came out in the last two games and were great.
“Everybody hit the ball, everybody did something different that they hadn’t done all year, it was good to see the pitchers pitch well, it was just great.”
Dru Ansell led the Ice in the final with a double and three runs scored, as Moose Jaw scored seven runs in the second inning to take a 9-3 lead, tacked on five more in the third to lead 12-3 and capped their offence with a 17-8 lead through four.
Aspen Olafson was 2-for-2 with a double, triple and two runs scored, Callie Bell reached base three times and scored twice, Taya Babich and Ella Bouffard scored two runs apiece.
Riley Ziffle and Chloe Strueby shared pitching duties throughout the weekend.
Success in the Moose Jaw tournament for a Moose Jaw team has proven to be a good omen in the recent past -- the U17 AA Ice won at home last season and would go on to win provincials.
Wright hopes that’s also a sign of things to come with her crew.
“It’s important for our girls to see and know they can win,” she said. “They know now that teams aren’t better than them, they’re just as good as everyone they play, if not better.”
The U17 AA Ice posted a 2-2 record in their round robin and missed playing in the final by a single win. They lost their opener 9-5 to the Regina Royals Friday before rebounding with a 13-1 win over the Balgonie Storm and 15-0 win over the Lumsden Cubs Saturday, but lost 6-4 to the Regina Fighting Saints Sunday to see their run come to an end.
The U15 AA Ice went 1-2 in the round robin and missed the playoffs, winning 3-2 over Lumsden in their opener but falling 4-3 to Melfort and 9-6 to the Regina Royals Mafia on Saturday.
