The Jarvie Jaguars bantam softballers are provincial silver medallists.
The team of 13 girls was in Leduc June 30 to July 2 competing against 11 other teams from across Alberta in the bantam girls ‘C’ provincial tournament.
“It feels awesome,” said coach Jennifer Burchett. “The girls were very happy. They’ve had an excellent season.”
The girls’ season ended with a 13-11 loss to Calgary in the gold-medal game. It was in some ways a disappointing loss because they had beaten Calgary in the tournament’s opening game, Burchett said.
Ultimately, it came down to the offence just not waking up in time to give the girls a shot at the win.
“We didn’t come alive on the bats early enough in that game to get ahead,” Burchett said.
The closeness of the gold-medal game mirrored the result of that opening game. In that first game against Calgary, Jarvie managed to squeak out a win, knocking off their opponents 9-8.
It was the second game where the Jaguars’ offence really took off. Up against Red Deer, the girls’ bats exploded as they pummeled their opponents 17-3. After such a narrow opening win, it was good to see a bit more breathing room, Burchett said.
“They came alive during that game, that’s for sure,” she said.
The third game was another close one, as the Jaguars defeated Stettler 4-2, booking themselves a spot in the semifinal round.
Knowing they were safely through to the next round meant they didn’t approach their final round robin game against Ponoka with the same aggression they normally would have. As a result, the Jaguars dropped the game 22-18.
“We already knew we were in the finals, so we saved our main pitchers for the semifinal and final game,” Burchett said. “We weren’t too worried about that game.”
In the semifinal, the Jaguars took on Sherwood Park and came away 9-2 winners, setting up their rematch with Calgary.
With the provincial tournament all wrapped up, a very successful season is over for Jarvie.
The team played in a number of tournaments throughout the year, and placed in the Top 4 in each of them.
They first won a tournament in Calgary at the end of May, then finished fourth in Killam in early June. They followed that up with a second-place finish at a mid-June tournament in Edmonton.
On top of their tournament action, the Jaguars also went undefeated in their league play and marched through all opposition to win their league tournament in late June, Burchett said.
