Timely hitting, excellent defence and rock solid pitching propelled the Gibsons Midget Crusherz to the C-level provincial softball championship last weekend in North Vancouver.
The talented team of 16- to 18 year-old girls, coached by Sean Whalen and Gord Fallis and managed by Janine Pedneault, finished round robin play with a record of 3-1, which placed them in seventh place out of the eight teams that advanced to the playoffs from the 16 teams that started the competition.
Gibsons beat Coquitlam 10-6 in its first game, then pulled out two nail-biting victories. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning against Mission, Gillian Sanders smacked a solo home run to tie the score. Then with Taylor Mennie on third, Lauren O'Brien singled home Taylor for the walk-off 3-2 win.
Their next round robin game against the Okanagan Mustangs was no less exciting. With the game tied at five in the first extra inning, Ellen Fallis threw a bullet from centre field to home plate that nailed a Mustangs runner at the plate, thanks to a great block and tag from catcher Sydney Lambert. Gibsons got out of the inning, and in their turn at bat with Sydney on second base, Carlee Benner launched a double, scoring Sydney for another walk-off 6-5 win.
"Looking back on things, those two games were huge for us," Whalen said. "If we lose either one, we probably don't even make the playoffs."
In Gibsons' final round robin game, they went up against their arch rivals from the North Shore. The game wasn't close, as Gibsons fell 10-1.
That loss set the stage for a dramatic playoff run.
Gibsons dropped its first playoff contest 3-2 to South Surrey/White Rock, putting them on the brink of elimination in the double knockout playoff round. But the team regrouped and came out hungry on Sunday, knowing they would have to win five games in a row to win the championship.
Whalen shook up his line-up a bit, and the move paid off, as Gibsons blasted Quesnel 14-1.
"I wanted a bit of a spark and we needed to shake things up a bit," he said. "Our pitching is always good, and if we can hit, we're a tough team to beat. When we came out as well as we did against Quesnel, I knew this was the team we were used to seeing."
Up next was Richmond, that Gibsons mercied 8-1, which allowed the team a bit of a breather as they awaited their next opponent.
"Both our pitchers, Ellen and Chelsea Holm, were spectacular all weekend," said Whalen. "We played 10 games and each shared innings in all the games. Our defence was really strong too, especially against Richmond. Carlee and Hayley Schoor were rock solid at short stop and second base."
Up next was Cordova Bay, which Gibsons handled 10-5, setting up a rematch with South Surrey. Gibsons pulled out a 9-7 win to set up a rematch with North Shore for the championship.
In the final, Gibsons and North Shore traded early runs, but the Crusherz put three on the board in the third and five more in the fourth to make it 9-1, and that was all she wrote, as Gibsons mercied North Shore after five innings.
"To lose to both South Surrey and North Shore, then come back and beat them to win the championship was really satisfying," Whalen said. "Beating anyone to win the championship would have been great, but to beat North Shore, a team that we have battled with for the last three years to fight to get to provincials, and to beat them in their own home park, was extra special."
The championship is only the second for Gibsons girls softball, with the last one coming in 2006.
"This is a real special group of girls and family members. The bond between them is pretty special," Whalen said. "I'm really proud of all of them."
Peewee Crusherz finish fifth
The Gibsons Peewee Crusherz came out strong in their round robin play at the provincials in Cranbrook last weekend, blasting Merritt 17-0, Abbotsford 8-1, Castlegar 8-1 and Lakehill/Vancouver Island 10-2.
That put Gibsons in a tie for first place with Cranbrook with a 4-0 record.
"We had to do a coin toss to decide the standings to see who we would play next," said head coach Laura Ewert. "We lost the coin toss, so we were seeded second and played the Cedar Heat from Vancouver Island Saturday night."
Despite the hot bats in the round robin, Gibsons offence took a while to get going and trailed 9-3 heading to the bottom of the seventh. Gibsons fought back, scoring five, but just couldn't come all the way back, losing 9-8.
Gibsons came out hungry Sunday morning, beating Richmond 11-9 and setting up their next game with Kelowna. But, with only one life left, Gibsons lost a nail-biter 5-4, ending their tournament.
Weekend highlights included Carly Gillard pitching 14 innings with 15 strikeouts, and Leah Ewert pitching 27 innings with 47 strikeouts. Leah, Stephanie Slingerland and Stephanie Kirkham all hit home runs, and Hannah Smith and Stephanie, when she was behind the plate, both had at least two pick-offs at second base to Cheyenne Mawby.
"All the girls played well and should be proud of their accomplishments this weekend," said Ewert.
