Oceanside’s U12 Rage girls fastball team took to the fields in Sooke last weekend for their first tournament together “to see how they could compete.”
Compete they did, as the locals surprised some people and mined themselves a well-earned silver medal.
According to longtime local booster/manager Sheryl McNichol, the Rage girls played four games Saturday with two wins, a tie and a loss.
“Most of these girls have never played more than two games in a day,” McNichol said after the dust had settled, adding the Rage stood their ground Sunday morning and beat Lake Hill and then Nanaimo to make it to the gold medal game against the Langford Lightning (the team they lost to on Saturday).
“Tired and sore, the battle was about to begin,” said McNichol, explaining there was no time limit, and the girls had to play a full seven innings (a first for this group) to make it to the final inning, which was to be open (no run limits).
The two teams battled hard and the lead went back and forth with the game tied in the seventh inning which set the table for extra innings and into international rules (starting the inning with a runner on second base).
“It was a fight but in the end Rage came home with the silver, a huge accomplishment for this group of girls,” said Sheryl, adding “Parksville Rage Fastball is making our community proud and this group of U12 girls will be putting themselves on the radar for future competition.
ON DECK
Parksville’s U18 Rage team will be competing in Portland, Oregon this weekend while their U16 counterparts travel will be in Langford.
— James Clarke
