Parksville’s Midget Rage girls capped of their 2012 softball campaign with a great showing at the Midget B provincials.
“It was our first B (division) provincials, and we did really well over there,” Rage head coach Kris McNichol said, pointing out the irls took bronze at the provincials last year in the Midget C division.
“This was our first year as a Rep team, and we finished fifth in the province out of 16 teams that qualified,” he pointed out proudly.
For those following along at home, there are around 30 Midget Rep B girls teams in the province.
In action on the fields at Cloverdale Athletic Park July 13-15 with pretty much the same group of girls as last year, the Rage left it all on the field. The locals opened the B.C.s Friday the 13th with a 3-1 win over Abbotsford ‘95 (year they were born).
“Anytime you win a game 3-1 it’s exciting — our pitching and defence played unreal,” said McNichol.
That afternoon against Cordova Bay, one of the tournament favourites, “it was a 3-3 ball game until our catcher got hurt in the third inning, and we ended up losing 8-3 or something like that.”
Back at it Saturday morning against the South Surrey Thunder ‘94s, the Rage had to be good for a 5-3 win.
Parksville closed out round robin action with a 6-2 win over the Abby ‘94s for a record of 3-1. The top eight teams in pool play advanced to the double knockout playoff round. The Rage, who sat sixth, threw everything they had at the Surrey Storm, who went on to win the tournament, in the opening round of the playoffs.
“We lost. I’ll just leave it at that,” Kris said curtly. “We were up 2-0 when it went upside down on us …”
That was their third game on Saturday and their first loss of the day.
Back at it Sunday morning 8 a.m. against Abby ‘94 again and fighting for their lives, the Rage hit the hide off the ball and mercied their opponents 11-2.
Back on the field against North Shore a half hour later the Rage battled hard but came up on the short end of a 4-2 final “and that was it for us.”
At seven innings a game, that works out to 42 innings of ball in three days.
“We lost to Cordova Bay, they came third in the province; we lost to the Surrey Storm, they won it all, and the other team we lost to, the North Shore Stars, they took silver.
“It was the best ball we’ve ever played and I’m super-proud of these girls,” said McNichol. “They played excellent ball, and it was just a joy to watch.”
LOOKING AHEAD
Coach McNichol and the Midget Rage girls are already looking ahead to next year as the team is hoping to make the trip down to California for a couple of tournaments to see how they stack up against their American counterparts, “so we’re starting to fundraise already.”
Anyone in a position to sponsor the team or help out with travel costs can contact Kris at 250-954-7510.
