MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- The Moose Jaw Ice are off to the Softball Canada U19 Women’s Championship.
The Ice won the right games at the right time during Softball Sask provincial tournament in Saskatoon over the weekend, reaching the gold medal game and as a result posting a top-three finish in the event.
Thanks to that showing, they’ll be one of three teams from the province taking part in Canadians from July 31 to Aug. 4 in Saskatoon.
It was an up and down weekend for the local crew, as they dropped their first two games at the four-team tournament, falling 12-1 to the Saskatoon Prairie Dog Selects on Friday night and losing 2-0 to the Saskatoon Wolverine Selects on Saturday morning.
That set the stage for a must-win game against the Regina Kaos on Saturday evening, and the Ice would come through with flying colours, snapping a 7-7 tie with runs in the sixth and seventh inning to take a 9-7 victory.
Thanks to Regina going winless in the tournament, the Ice advanced to the playoff round, where they got a measure of revenge against the Wolverine Selects in the semifinal.
Ava Unser allowed a single run on four hits over five innings and Katie Newberry finished things off with two scoreless innings of work as Moose Jaw took a 5-1 win.
Aubrey Clarke and Jamison Langlois each went 3-for-4 at the plate in the semifinal victory.
That sent the Ice into the gold medal game against the Prairie Dog Selects, where things didn’t go quite as well, with Moose Jaw taking an 11-4 loss.
The Ice will now be the second-seed from Saskatchewan when Canadians begin in two weeks time.
The Moose Jaw Ice put together a perfect weekend at the U15 B Softball Sask championship in Saskatoon, and as a result they’re now provincial champions.
The Ice won all six of their games at the 31-team tournament, beginning with three commanding victories in the round robin. Moose Jaw kicked things off Friday night with a 10-1 win over the Indian Head Angels, followed with a 10-5 win over the Parkland Predators on Saturday morning and took top spot in their pool with an 11-3 win over the Maidstone Lakers on Saturday afternoon.
Finishing first in their pool sent the Ice into the tournament quarterfinal Sunday morning, where they’d continue their offensive output with a 10-3 win over the Melville Millionaires. The semifinal was then more of the same, as Moose Jaw hammered out an 11-1 win over the Unity Panthers.
That sent the Ice into the gold medal game, and they’d have their closest contest of the weekend before emerging with a 10-6 win over the Yorkton Crush.
At the U17 B provincial championship in Regina, the Ice went 3-1 in their round robin before falling in the quarterfinal.
Moose Jaw won their opener 12-1 over the Regina Saints before falling 10-3 to the East Central Wolverines. Things went far better in their next two outings, a 15-2 win over the Saskatoon Selects Cougars and 15-3 win over the Prince Albert Aces to advance to the playoff round.
The Ice then faced the Swift Current Sonic in their first playoff game and dropped an 11-1 decision.
At the U13 B provincial championship in Estevan, the Ice went unbeaten through four round robin games but fell in extra innings in their first playoff contest.
Moose Jaw utterly dominated the round robin with a 15-5 win over the Saskatoon Lightning Fury, 10-4 win over the Neudorf Red Sox, 13-1 win over the Regina Royals Rebels and 11-1 win over the Melfort Spirit.
As well as things went to that point, the Ice didn’t have any luck in the quarterfinal and would fall 12-11 to the Parkland Predators.
