Going into a major tournament is always an interesting experience.
Being the host team and being involved in the event preparations to make sure everything goes off without a hitch is an even harder task.
For the Battleford Bandits, not only did they find themselves right in the mix for a playoff spot all weekend, but they also turned in a great performance in hosting the 2017 Western Canadian U14 Softball Championship at Battlefords Flats Park.
“Coming into this weekend with eight teams from Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan coming here, we really didn’t know what to expect,” Bandits coach Regan Lavallee said. “The girls exceeded my expectations with how well they held their own in every game and we were in the tournament right until the end.
“I know everyone involved with the host committee has been so busy, especially in the last week leading up to this in making sure everything was okay, but it seems like everyone enjoyed themselves and it was a great experience for the out of town teams.”
The Bandits started off the tournament with a pair of victories Friday, as they edged out the Sherwood Park Storm from Sherwood Park, Alta., in a 8-7 affair and then prevailed over the Manitoba Thunder from Winnipeg in a 11-10 slugfest.
Despite dropping a 6-4 battle to the British Columbia based South Delta Invaders Friday night and suffering 12-5 and 6-0 setbacks to the Lloydminster Liners of Alberta and the eventual champion Surrey Storm of British Columbia, the Bandits still had a chance to make the playoffs entering their final round-robin game.
Although they came up short in a 9-2 contest with the Westman Magic from Brandon, Man., the Bandits fate was already sealed earlier in the morning Sunday when the Unity Panthers won their game and ended any chance of a tiebreaker.
“For the most part, we had a chance to get runs on the board in every game that we played, but we just weren’t able to capitalize on our chances,” Lavallee said.
“We would have loved to have come away with a win in the final day, but it didn’t work out for us. We were able to make sure everyone got in to play in our last game though, which was something we wanted to do.”
To prepare for the Western Canadians, the Bandits spent the season playing games in the Girls Prairie League Softball circuit, which saw them in mini-tournaments throughout the course of the summer.
“The level of play that we faced from the teams we saw from Alberta was very similar to what we faced here, so that really helped us get to used to the type of games that we had over the weekend,” Lavallee said.
“I remember thinking that we would be in tough against the British Columbia teams, as we had heard that they were very good, but I was really proud of how well they hung in against them.”
When it came to the behind the scenes operations of the Western Canadians, the one major concern was with what Mother Nature had to offer over the course of the four-day event.
The biggest challenge came at the completion of Friday’s slate of games, as a storm left the four fields completely soaked.
“The outfield looked like a river was running through it at one point,” Lavallee said. “When we arrived Saturday morning, it was completely soaked.
“Our grounds crew did a fabulous job of getting everything fixed up. We saw what they could do a year ago when we hosted the U12 provincials and they could get the job done here. They exceeded what they did a year ago and they jumped on any issues that we had.”
One of the people that noticed the amount of work that the volunteers put into the event was Phil Ransome, who is the coach of the boys’ division champion Barriere Bruins from British Columbia.
“When we got that rain Friday night, we were all scared to death of what the field conditions were going to be like the next day,” Ransome said.
“The amount of time that the grounds crew put in to make sure that all of the fields were staying together was amazing. The facilities were awesome, the volunteers were great and we would come back to Battleford any time.”
With the season now over, the Bandits will now go their separate ways, though a few players will be involved in camps to try and make the provincial softball team for the 2019 Western Summer Games in Swift Current.
“It’s a pretty lengthy process to get to those games with a lot of girls trying out for it, but I think this experience should help them out,” Lavallee said. “Most of the girls from this team will be moving up in the ranks, except for five players who are eligible to come back to the U14 team.
“When they look back on this whole weekend, I hope they realize how good a level of ball they competed at here. We faced some great competition and the girls played so well. I’m very proud of how they preformed and how well they faired as a host team.”
