Slammers capture their first tournament

The Southside Slammers U16 girls fastpitch team not only pitches fast, they gel fast as well. They won an A-level tournament in Regina, only a couple of months after the team played their first game.

The Southside Slammers won their first tournament of the year. The team, from left, are assistant coach Kevin Pekrul, assistant coach Rene Blanchette, Mikaila Mahnke (Weyburn), Morgan Walter (Estevan), Rylan King (Weyburn), Jorde Chartrand (Weyburn), Kylee Dixon (Arcola), Mackenzie Skuce (Estevan), Kelsey Littlejohn (Estevan), Piper Pekrul (Balgonie), Jenna Blanchette (Estevan), head coach Trent Walter, assistant coach Caroline Chartrand. Sitting are Joelle Lamontagne (Oxbow) and Paige Fellner (Weyburn) Missing: Brittney Klassen (Alameda). Submitted photo

The Southside Slammers U16 girls fastpitch team not only pitches fast, they gel fast as well.

They won an A-level tournament in Regina, only a couple of months after the team played their first game.

In their second excellent tournament position in the last month, the Slammers concluded the round robin with a victory over the Regina Royals 8-4, and then Sunday morning they had a semifinal against the Regina Lazers and they won 7-1. That put them in the final against the Prince Albert Aces.

“We scored two runs in the top of the seventh to go ahead and then we were able to close them down,” said coach Trent Walter.

Pitching has been going well for the new team, Walter said. They had five different complete game performances in the tournament.

“The pitching was really good and defensively we did really well too, giving up that low number of runs throughout the whole weekend. It really spoke to how well we played defensively.

Players come from all over the area to play for the team, which has its regular season games in the Regina U16 fastball league. There are five players from Estevan, four from Weyburn, one each from Alameda, Oxbow and Arcola and one more from Balgonie.

They haven't been able to play any of their regular season games at home in the area, though. They play Thursday doubleheaders plus tournaments. This weekend, they're in Melfort for a tournament.

Including tournament play, the team is 15-8 in their games which is all the more impressive considering they are as new as they are.

“We've been playing just since the beginning of the season,” Walter said. “We've been playing and training indoors since January, but we got out on the diamonds end of April, beginning of May. Now we're gearing up for provincials.”

Provincials are July 9-11 in Saskatoon, and on July 21-23 the team will host a tournament. Nationals are Aug. 9-13 in Delta, B.C.

The team has come together well so far.

“We've had key individuals come up at key times for us,” Walter said. “We've had really steady improvement and I think we're peaking at the right time here. Things are going well.”