Westman sweeps AA softball titles

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This article was published 28/08/2023 (876 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Westman swept gold and earned four of the six medals during Softball Manitoba’s under-13 and U15 provincials at Brandon’s Ashley Neufeld Softball Complex on Sunday afternoon.

In U13 action, the Westman Heat beat the Westman Fury 8-5 to earn gold, while Central Charge edged the Interlake Phillies 15-14 to finish third. On the U15 side of the draw, the Westman Storm topped Central 9-7, while the Brandon Heat beat the Fury 7-0 in the bronze medal game.

That meant five of the eight teams playing for a medal were from Westman, even though the region split the territory into three separate squads to give more area girls a competitive softball experience.

Cory Barkley, the head coach of the U15 Storm squad made up of girls from outside Brandon who live south of the Trans-Canada Highway, said it was a good day for Westman softball.

“The AA program has been a real boon,” Barkley said. “It just shows there is another group of kids who can play at a pretty high level. The program has been excellent. It’s been fun to get a chance to coach.

“I’d say I’m really proud of Westman. That’s a really good thing.”

U15 Heat head coach Hailey Curtis agreed.

“We definitely have a strong core in Westman,” Curtis said. “I’m glad we split into three teams and have really competition. I’m so glad to see the sport grow because when I played, it was still that one team for the region.

“To see it split now and still have such a strong group is fantastic.”

U13

In the 10-team U13 draw, the top two teams from each five-team pool advanced to Sunday morning’s semifinals. The Heat, who went 6-1 overall with the only loss coming in a 12-4 defeat by the Fury on Saturday, beat Central 7-5 to advance to the final.

The Fury, who finished 5-2 and are composed of girls who live north of the Trans-Canada Highway, topped the Interlake Phillies 12-4 in the other semifinal.

The Storm went 1-3 in the round-robin and missed the playoffs.

In the final, Alexa McNish gave the Heat a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when she led off with a single, stole second, advanced to third on an infield grounder and scored on a wild pitch.

“I think it always helps because it brings the momentum up,” McNish said of the early lead. “It was an amazing start.”

The lead stood until the top of the fourth inning when the Fury tied it, but the Heat essentially put the game away in the bottom of the fourth when they scored six runs — the maximum allowed in an inning — to go up 7-1.

The rally started when Haleigh Cuvelier laid down a bunt and the throw to first sailed into right field. The youngster simply kept running and narrowly beat the throw to the plate.

“I just wanted to make contact and lay it down and get it on the ground,” Cuvelier said between giggles. “I just gunned it.”

Amazingly, it’s the second time she’s done it this season.

The productive inning ended with a second home run after Londyn Hrubeniuk drilled the ball to the fence in right field.

“It felt really nice,” Hrubeniuk said. “It caught my sweet spot right in the middle of the bat when I hit it. It went far. I was really thankful because I wasn’t hitting the ball today until that one.” But a talented Fury team promptly responded with three runs of their own, and with the bases loaded and one out, Cuvelier was brought in to pitch.

“I didn’t want to let my team down,” Cuvelier said.

She promptly induced a soft line drive and then struck out the next batter to end the threat with the Heat up 7-4.

“We were bases loaded,” Heat head coach Greg Beckwith said. “Alexa (McNish) got the first two outs and we decided we needed to change the pace of the pitching. Haleigh throws a little bit different of a ball. We have confidence in all our pitchers, and we knew whoever we put in was going to come in and be aggressive and fearless, and Haleigh did exactly that.”

The Heat put across an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth, which meant the Fury had to score four times just to tie in the top of the sixth and final inning. They managed to get one, making it 8-5, but with two on and the tying run at the plate, Cuvelier ended the game with the same combination of line drive and strikeout that worked the inning before.

“It’s really, really good because I really, really enjoyed my team,” Hrubeniuk said of her gold medal. “It was my first year playing Heat so I really enjoyed these girls. They’re all really amazing, really good ball players and really nice.”

Their coach had the same thought.

“This group, whether we won or lost that last game, is so together,” Beckwith said. “Just such great teammates, a ton of real classy girls who were super fun to coach.

“In the end, that probably contributed to us being successful … It’s great. I’m just so happy for the girls. They worked so hard all year, it was a long season, and they really deserved to win this game. I’m super proud of them.”

U15

The Storm went 2-1 in round-robin play and 3-0 in the playoffs after starting with a wild 13-12 loss to the unbeaten Heat. Their wins on Sunday included a 14-3 victory in the semifinals over the Fury, who were 4-0 through the round-robin and playoffs to that point.

After beating Central on Sunday afternoon — the Storm built a 6-0 lead in the first inning of the final and held on for the 9-7 victory — a cohort of girls who won at the U13 AA level last year earned their second gold in a row.

“It’s a really talented group,” Barkley said. “We were a little bit nervous going into the year because we had only three majors on the team, but it’s a such a strong group of minors and such a strong area.

“Honestly, picking the team was a nightmare because it was such a good group.”

All eight teams made the U15 playoffs on Sunday, with interlocking play between pools based on finish.

The Heat beat Interlake 13-0 but fell 6-4 to Central, sending them to the bronze medal game against the Fury. The Fury had topped the Reapers 18-1 but lost 14-3 to the Storm.

While bronze wasn’t the original goal, Curtis was pleased with the medal around her neck.

“We like to end on a win so we’re happy to be here,” Curtis said.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

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