It wasn’t quite the finish that the Prince Albert U13 Aces had hoped for, but it was still a very successful weekend at the Shaye Amundson Memorial Tournament.
The Aces held a 7-4 lead heading into the bottom half of the seven inning, but couldn’t hold on as the Melfort Spirit would rally to score four times to win the game in walk off fashion.
U13 Aces head coach Amy Fiddler was proud of her team’s effort, despite falling short in the end.
“The girls played really really well.” Fiddler said. “It is tough to lose in the bottom of seven like that, but hats off to them. They played really well. They had some clutch hits there in the seventh. Our girls played amazing all weekend. Like I just told them nothing to be ashamed about (and) keep their heads high.”
The Aces would strike first as Jorja Beebe and Tatum Fiddler would come around to score in the top half of the first.
The two teams would trade the lead as the game went along. Melfort would take the lead by plating three runs in the bottom half of the third inning, all coming with two outs.
Prince Albert would respond by playing three runs of their own in the top half of the fifth inning. Melfort would manufacture a run in the bottom half of the inning
The Aces would add two insurance runs in the top half of the sixth.
In the bottom of the seventh, Melfort would string together three consecutive two out hits to take the win.
Fiddler says the game was a good teaching moment for her team early in the season.
“We’re going to work on a few things, we’ll see these guys lots throughout the year, so we’ll work on a few different things that we were lacking in this game. But otherwise the girls played well, they just out-hit us in the last three innings.”
U15 Aces fall in semifinal thriller
The U15 Aces gave it their all, but fell just short in a 19-18 nine inning thriller against the Saskatoon Lasers in their semi-final matchup.
Aces head coach Derek Mitchell says the game wasn’t the cleanest, but he was proud of his team’s performance.
“It’s pretty typical for a team that’s in their sixth game of the year. I don’t know if either coach is overly happy with the amount of errors that were made in it but at the same time our girls are developing some resiliency here early on this season that hopefully is going to pay off come July.”
The game featured a number of twists and turns. Down five runs entering the top half of the seventh inning, the Aces would rally to tie the game.
Avie Kovitch would pitch a clean bottom of the seventh, which forced extra innings.
The Aces would take a two run lead in the top half of the eighth, but the Lasers would steal home with two outs in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game.
Saskatoon would walk off in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Despite falling short of the ultimate goal, Mitchell says the weekend was a good building block for Prince Albert moving forward.
“I’m really proud of our girls for the weekend. Like I said, we haven’t played a lot of games yet and for us, this is all the process of getting us better for Provencials come July. It was a beautiful day today, so they battled the elements a little windy again today.”
sports@paherald.sk.ca
