Prince Rupert’s slo pitch fans were treated to another weekend of great weather and games as the city hosted the annual Rupert Queens Tournament on Sept. 29 and 30.
Six teams — including three out of town teams — took the field, where they competed for a cash prize and bragging rights. In the tournaments final game, Pitch Please! held on beat the Diamond Diggers 12-10 in what was a competitive, evenly matched game.
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“Our girls did amazing, I’m so proud of them,” said Pitch Please! team captain Miranda Shaw. “This is a first year team, and some of our players hadn’t played together so this is really cool.”
Pitch Please! stormed out to an early lead, scoring three runs in the first inning, four in the second and two in the fourth, all while holding the Diamond Diggers to only three runs in that stretch to take a 9-3 lead going into the fifth.
The Diamond Diggers struggled to find consistency on offense early, often chasing pitches which led to ground-outs.
As the game progressed however, the team’s coaches urged the players to be disciplined from the dugout, and they were able to chip away at the Pitch Please! lead. The Diamond Diggers scored two runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and three in the seventh while holding Pitch Please! to only one run in that stretch to tie the game 10-10 and send the game to extra innings.
Shaw said as the game got closer, she purposefully didn’t tell the team what the score was so they would stay focussed.
“It was just the outs we were keeping track of at the end,” she said.
In the game’s extra inning, Pitch Please! rallied to score two runs after giving up two early outs, and closed out the game behind strong pitching from Sarah Dantzer.
“It feels great to win the game,” said Shaw. “It was very rewarding.”
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