It was a perfect ending to the season for the Prince Albert U11 “A” Aces, as they took home the provincial title in Humboldt last weekend.
Aces head coach Amy Fiddler says Prince Albert had an incredible season.
“We went undefeated and finished first in the overall round robin. We ended up playing Humboldt in the final. They are a really good team, so that was nice to have some competition there. It was just a perfect end to a really strong season. We ended up winning the Shaye (Amundson) tournament earlier in the year. We only lost one game all year to Martensville in their tournament. It was a very successful year.”
Fiddler thought the Aces would have a strong team, but they surpassed her expectations throughout the season.
“The talent this year was unbelievable, next year we actually lose eight girls. They will move up to the U13 level. So, it’s kind of that every second year I’ll see this group and they completely surpassed my expectations.”
Fiddler says the team shared an incredibly close bond and were very supportive of one another, which paid off for the team in the championship game.
“These girls got along exceptionally well. They were a team every single game, especially in that final, we went an extra inning than we’re normally used to. We had really strong pitching, but we also had really good hitters all throughout the lineup and that’s what ended up making the difference. We met a strong pitcher in the final from Humboldt, but our girls adjusted, and we scored runs when we needed to.”
Another key weapon for Prince Albert was the ability to play small ball. Fiddler gives a lot of credit to the rest of the team’s coaching staff for helping the team succeed.
“I have such a great coaching staff as well. There’s five of us coaching staff plus a manager, and it just really helps to keep the girls amped up, to keep them organized. Like I said, I have super strong pitching hitting, but we also incorporated a lot of the small ball like the bunting, and most of those teams that we met aren’t quite there yet and then ended up making a difference, especially in a couple of our games are provincials.”
