Two girl's teams from Saskatchewan, one local and one with local players picked up, are heading to Western Canadians, looking to put the previous couple weeks behind them and play some solid softball.
July 16 and 17, the Prince Albert Aces trumped the North West Vipers junior softball in provincials winning the best-of-five series. Prince Albert prevailed then, but now the Vipers are hoping to get some revenge on the Aces and other teams at the Western Canadian Junior Fastpitch Championships in Burnaby, B.C.
The Vipers arrived in Saskatoon Wednesday and flew from there to B.C. where they have four days of softball ahead of them. Joining the Vipers at westerns will be the Aces, Strathmore Magic, Calgary Rage, Burnaby Hurricanes, Victoria Kaos, Ridge Meadows Rage, Westman Renegades and La Salle Jets.
The Vipers started the tournament Thursday morning against Victoria. They were scheduled to play once more Thursday before the opening ceremonies. The Vipers also have two qualifying games Friday and two Saturday. Tiebreakers will be played Saturday evening and the top four teams will begin the playoff round Sunday.
The other girl's team heading to westerns with some local talent is the Pilot Butte Prairie Storm. The Storm picked up Erin Heinemann, Tori Heinemann and Sydney Rempel after earning a silver medal at midget B provincials in July in Unity.
The three local girls travelled with the Storm to Steamboat Springs, Colo. for the Triple Crown Girl's 18U Fastpitch World Series. The Storm faced some elite competition, as the Arizona Outlaws Gold beat the Strom 15-5, the Pueblo Gold won 9-0 over the Storm, the Chaos won 10-9 and the Colorado Stampede Elite won 14-0 in the qualification round.
The Storm went on to lose 12-4 to the Inland Empire Enigma and 10-4 to the Colorado Wildcats to be eliminated from the tournament.
Hoping to respond from the losses down south, the Storm and the three girls from the Battlefords will head west to the Midget B Western Canadian Softball Championship in Medicine Hat, Alta.
The draw for the Storm is the same as the Vipers with two games each Thursday, Friday and Saturday and the playoffs set up for Sunday.
The other teams at girls' midget B westerns are the Kindersley Edge Realty Royals, Medicine Hat Thunder, Calgary Triple Threats, Sedgewick Cobras, South Delta Invaders 93, Nanaimo Diamonds, Westman Magic and the Manitoba Angels.
The Leoville Loggers will also be in Medicine Hat for the Midget B Western Canadian Men's Fastball Championship. Leoville lost the provincial championship best-of-five series to the Saskatoon Selects July 8.
