The Kelowna Heat bantam B Under-16 girls fastball team placed third in a junior ladies tournament at High Noon park in Kelowna on the weekend, earning several wins along the way including an excellent pitchers duel to start the playoffs on Sunday morning.
Julia Lambert allowed just one run in seven innings of work as the Heat edged the Fleetwood Force 2-1 in an entertaining affair at High Noon on Sunday morning.
Brett Needham drove in the winning run with a single in the sixth inning to put the Heat up 2-1. Lambert allowed one run in the first and then shut the door. In the bottom of the seventh the Heat threw out the potential tying run at the plate, ending the game in dramatic fashion and sending the Heat onto the semi-final.
Despite more offense from Needham, who went two-for-three at the plate, the Heat ran out of gas and lost 12-5 to the PoCo Junior Ravens in the semi-final, ending their tournament at 3-and-3 and third place on the gold side of the tournament draw.
The Heat were 2-and-2 in the round robin portion of the tournament.
In the opener, Lambert led the way with a six strike-out performance on the mound and she also drove in two runs in a 12-4 win over RM Nemesis. Candace Hamilton also drove in two runs in the win.
The Heat then dropped an 11-1 decision to SD Invaders. Lori Miki was one-for-two at the plate and scored the Heat’s lone run.
Kelowna got back onto the winning side as the Hayden Craig cracked a home run in the first inning en route to a 5-1 win over the Fleetwood Force. Craig would end the game with two hits and three RBI’s.
In its final round robin game the Heat lost 11-4 to the Poco Junior Ravens.
The bantam B U-16 Heat will now prepare to host its own tournament, coming up May 25 to 27 in Kelowna.
