The Ridge Meadows Rage came back from a run down in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the under-19 provincial B fastpitch championship.
The provincials took place July 6-8 in Surrey. The Rage is a team of players born in 2001 and competed against those born in 2000 and 1999.
“The Rage 01 battled hard all weekend and really brought their game when needed,” said head coach Dawn Hartford.
The Rage played the Vancouver Wildcats 00 team in the final. Trailing 3-2, Jess Kielan made amazing catch in center field, then threw to third base to get a runner out for a double play in the top of the seventh inning.
In the bottom half, with two outs, Emily Nalleweg hit hard grounder to left field, bringing in Maddie Hartford with the tying run.
Then with runners on second and third, Sydney McCrae hit a hard shot down the left-field line, bringing in the winning run.
The Rage opened the provincials with a 6-4 loss to the Storm ’99 team, but rebounded with a 4-2 vicotry over the Fleetwood Force ’00.
The next day, Ridge played three games instead of four due to rain and qualified for the double-knockout playoff round.
The Rage downed Parksville 4-2, behind stellar pitching from
Megan Saez Co. and Kalen Cebuliak, then advanced to the medal round with a 3-2 win over the Invaders ’00.
Ridge moved on to the final with a 7-4 win over the Vancouver Wildcats.
Members of the provincial champions: Alyssa Cable, Celeste Carlisle, Kalen Cebuliak, Jaedyn Dionne, Taiya Dionne, Taylor Evenson, Nicole Lutz, Erin Murphy, Zoe Zeballos, Kielan, Nalleweg, Hartford, McCrae, Saez Co. and Cebuliak.
Rage coaches include Dawn Hartford, Rob Hartford, Todd Kielan and Dave Nalleweg.
