The Estevan Gem Well Elite bantam girls' softball team made the semifinals at provincials on the weekend in Saskatoon.
There were 17 teams from throughout the province, making it the largest draw for any provincial championship this year.
The Elite began play on Friday against the Prince Albert Aces, claiming victory in five innings by a score of 16-0. Tess Lindquist pitched, facing 17 batters with nine strikeouts.
Play resumed earlySaturday morning for the Elite, as they lost 6-1 to the Conquest Coyotes. Taylor Marcotte pitched four innings and Tess Lindquist threw the last two. Marcotte struck out five batters and walked two, while Lindquist struck out three and walked one.
The game was close going into the fourth inning, but the Coyotes managed to pull away, as there were a few errors and Estevan's bats went cold.
Macy Earl caught the first two games for the Elite.
Next, the bantam club crushed the Saskatoon Raiders 17-0 in three innings.Daria Schaff started and Kristen Skjonsby took on the catching duties.
The Elite finished second in their pool and advanced to the playoffs, which began Sunday morning with a 5-4 win over the Warman Panthers, who had finished first in their pool.
Lindquist pitched into the sixth inning, striking out six batters. Marcotte took over for the rest of the game and had one strikeout. Earl was behind the plate for the Elite.
Warman trailed by two runs heading to the bottom of the seventh, but Estevan held them to one to get the win.
The Elite lost to the Saskatoon Hustlers in the semis. No score was available at press time.
The team will head to Surrey, B.C., next week to play in the Scotiabank Open Fastpitch International Championship, formerly called the Canada Cup. The event runs from July 10-16 and the Elite will play at least seven games.
Closer to home, meanwhile, Estevan Girls' Softball held its squirt year-end tournament on Friday and Saturday at the Pleasantdale Softball Park.
The draw included the Estevan Power Tech Panthers, Estevan Kudu Krush, two teams from Radville and two from Weyburn.
The Panthers won the A final 16-9 over the Weyburn Red Rapids. They got to the final by beating Radville 1 on Friday, 23-4, and dumping Weyburn 2 on Saturday by a score of 17-6.
The Krush took the B final, winning 20-7 over Weyburn 2. They began with a 20-9 win over Radville 2, then lost 16-12 to the Red Rapids on Saturday.
The peewee year-end tournament was also slated for the weekend, but there weren't enough teams to play.
Meanwhile, the bantam/midget year-end tournament took place on the June 23 weekend.
Estevan Murray GM took the gold medal, defeating Estevan Crown Advertising 4-1.
