U14 Aces outscore opponents 59-10 at provincials, set their sights on nationals

The Prince Albert U14 Aces have been on a tear this season and are showing no signs of slowing down.

The Aces breezed through the competition at Softball Saskatchewan provincials in Regina over the weekend, going 6-0 and outscoring the opposition 59-10 over that span.

“The girls played really well. They did their job. Our pitching was on fire and our bats have been really good, they’ve never died off this year and they’ve just been hitting the ball really well,” Aces coach Devon Kolosa said.

Five games ended early due to the mercy rule, meaning the Aces only played 24 out of a possible 42 innings. PA defeated the host team 7-0 in five innings in the gold-medal game.

Kolosa said playing shorter games benefitted his pitchers, but made it a challenge to get all his players on the field.

“You have 12 girls on a team and you want to sub them in and out as much as possible because you can only have nine on the field at a time. So when you’re only playing four (innings) not everybody’s always getting in the game,” he said.

“It feels good as a coach to get out of a game real fast and win it, but then you’re not always getting everybody enough play time. But as a coach I’ll take that. A win’s a win.”

With the provincial title, the Aces, who also won their league tournament last month, head to the 2017 U14 Girls’ Canadian Fast Pitch Championship as the top-ranked team in the province. The Saskatoon Phantoms will join PA as the only other Saskatchewan team at the competition, which is being held in Brampton, Ont. from Aug. 16 to 20.

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