It was a season all about firsts for the Lakeland Blaze softball program.
The U19 Blaze took home a bronze medal at their first ever Western Canadian Championship in Irma, Alta. on the weekend.
Head coach James Crouch says he was proud of the way the team played.
“It was a really good weekend. We have such a talented team and we have so many girls that just fit the roles that they play and it’s hard to explain but we just have a complete team with power, pitching, speed. The girls just carried the momentum from preventals into westerns and we felt like we had a chance to win every game and they played really well.”
The U19 Blaze captured the provincial “B” title last month when they defeated the host Battlefords Bandits 8-1 in the championship game to punch their ticket to Irma.
Irma is a village with a population of approximately 521 according to data from 2016. It is located about 30 kilometres northeast of Wainwright. The village is also the home of two WHL players and members of the Canadian World Junior Team in Jagger Firkus and Scott Ratzlaff.
With the success in the program’s first year, Crouch says he is hopeful that the Blaze are able to keep more girls involved in the sport of softball once they finish playing for their respective minor association.
“It’s important to sort of get our name out and let the province know who the Lakeland Blaze are and know that we have a good program. It might keep girls either in softball longer saying that they can still play out in the PA region and be competitive rather than try to get into the Saskatoon area. It’s huge for the program, for the first year to come out and put out some good stats.”
The U19 Blaze weren’t the only team to come home with a medal. The U17 Blaze also came home with a bronze medal at Westerns in Port Alberni, BC.
With the success of the first season in Blaze history in the books, Crouch says there is plenty to look forward to for the program.
“For the Blaze program, just continuing to get just really good players. For our girls, a lot of them are going off to college and continuing to play ball for a college. Or even for the University of Saskatchewan or the University of Regina, we have a bunch going there too. Keep growing the program and hopefully even have a U19 “A” team.”
sports@paherald.sk.ca
