The Northwest Vipers rolled through provincials in Saskatoon easily and had high expectations heading into the Western Canadian Junior B Championships, which were held in Winnipeg last week.
The Vipers started the tournament off right Aug. 5, as they scored three runs in their first at bat against the Strathmore Magic.
The Magic tied the game in the fourth inning, but the Vipers broke out with five runs in the fifth inning and held on to win 8-5. Tessa Weum, Leanna Harris and Jamie Flasch combined for seven of the Vipers 10 hits. Brittany Fedler was the winning pitcher with six strikeouts.
Later that day, the Vipers were back in action, this time against Hamiota Hurricanes. The Viper's Janaya Barker surrendered a run in the second inning, but in the third inning, the Vipers took the lead and never looked back. A four-run third inning, two-run fourth inning and three-run sixth inning helped the Vipers to a 9-4 win. The Vipers had 14 hits in total with Harris going 4/4 and Sarah Heinemann, Weum and Brynn Hartley all recording multi-hit games.
Friday morning, the Vipers went up against the Murillo Mudhens and led 1-0 after the first, 3-0 after the second, 8-0 after the third and fourth and 12-0 after five innings. Landace McClughan of Regina was pick up by the Vipers and was all but unhittable, as she had six strikeouts and gave up just two hits in the five-inning game.
Once again, Harris led the way with four hits, and Heinemann and Rikki and Brittany Fedler all had two hits.
The Vipers continued their winning ways as they beat the Calgary Rage later that day to improved to 4-0. Birttany Fedler was the winning pitcher in the 6-5 win while she surrendered just three hits. It was a family effort in this one, as Brittany's cousins, Rikki and Jackie both had two hits and Harris joined the Fedlers with another multi-hit game.
Saturday morning, the Vipers suffered their first lost by a 4-3 score to the Victoria Kaos. The Vipers had seven runners left on base after nine hits. Barker was saddle with the lost, as she gave up five hits.
Harris and Rikki Fedler led the offence again.
The Vipers finished the round robin with a 9-3 win over the host Manitoba Thunder team. Brittany Fedler was the winning pitcher with Flasch, Harris and Erin Pylypow leading the offence this time.
The Vipers finished the round robin at 5-1 and in first place.
In the page playoff game the Vipers played the second place Mudhens once again, but this time the result was much different. The Vipers trailed 6-2 heading in to the sixth inning. They scored one run in the sixth and two in the seventh, but fell short and lost 6-5. Brittany Fedler was the Vipers' pitcher for the game. Harris, Rikki Fedler and Weum were the Vipers' big batters, as the team had nine nits in the loss.
What turned out to be the Vipers final game was against Strathmore once again. It was an exciting game, which went into extra innings, but the Vipers were handed a 9-8 loss. Both teams had 10 hits, but the Vipers made a couple costly mistakes in the field and instead of playing for the gold medal were awarded bronze.
The Vipers took 15 players to westerns and did a great job representing the Battlefords and the other neighbouring communities. Although they lost their final two games, to teams they beat in the round robin, they have to be proud of their accomplishments and a bronze medal.
"I am really proud," said assistant coach Don Robertson. "They did us proud, and the community proud. They are a good bunch of girls."
The Vipers graduate three players, Harris, Weum and Brittany Penner and although they will have some new holes to fill the Vipers should be a strong team again next season after the experience.
"We were quite pleased," said Robertson. "The year was a lot of fun and the girls are great players."
To go along with the bronze medal, Harris was named the tournaments top batter, as she batted .640, had a .960 slugging percentage, six RBI, 13 runs and nine stolen bases.
