U17s seek consistency at provincials

If the Westman Magic hope to make some noise at Softball Manitoba’s under-17 AAA provincials at Ashley Neufeld Softball Complex this weekend, they’ll need the support of all three legs of the baseball stool.

Magic head coach Kayla Alexander, who is helped by assistants Brad Twordik and Brooklyn Franklin, said every part of their game will have to be strong at the seven-team event, which begins this morning.

“We need our pitchers to give us ground balls and eliminate as many hits as they can,” Alexander said. “We need our defence to play solid defence and make the outs that are given to us. If we work together as a team hitting, picking each other up when maybe one has had a bad at-bat or being OK with a strikeout if it’s been a good at-bat that they had, staying positive.

“Good pitching, good hitting, good defence. That will win you ballgames.”

The event includes the first-place Interlake Phillies (18-4), second-place Eastman Wildcats (17-5), third-place Central Energy (14-6), fourth-place Magic (11-6), fifth-place Manitoba Angels (6-15), sixth-place Smittys Terminators (5-16) and seventh-place Winnipeg Lightning (1-20).

The Magic’s biggest challenge may come when they’re in the field.

“We haven’t been consistent defensively,” Alexander said. “Our last few games, our defensive play has been much better and we’ve limited the errors being made. That’s our number-one goal, is to make the outs our pitchers give us. If we can do that, we’ll have success.

“We’ve worked a lot on situations and knowing where we’re putting the ball before it’s coming to us, and that helps eliminate our errors.”

The team includes Brandonites Quinn Twordik, Jayce Whiteside, Rachel Lyver, Olivia Wilson, Mya Duncan-Gagnon, Katie Bell, Jade Campbell and Kasia Baranyk, along with Rose Cochrane of Alexander, Callie Franklin of Chater, Ivy Fry of Wawanesa, Paige Rampton of Virden and Anna Yeomans of Medora.

They have set their expectations high entering the four-day tournament.

“We’re a group that’s been together for a lot of years and I think our chemistry is there,” Twordik said. “We’ve been struggling at the start of the season but I think we’re really going to band together here and I think it’s good to be a good weekend for us.”

Whiteside agreed.

“I think we’re a really tight group,” Whiteside said. “We haven’t hit our peak yet but I think this weekend we’re going to. We have a lot of faith in each other so it’s just executing that on the diamond.”

Today, Westman meets Manitoba at 2 p.m., and Central at 4:30. On Friday, they play Eastman at 12:30 and Interlake at 5:30, and on Saturday, they meet Winnipeg at 12:30 and Smitty’s at 5:30.

One of Alexander’s bigger decisions may be who to pitch and when.

Franklin, Whiteside, Twordik and the left-hander Rampton have thrown a fairly equal number of innings this summer, which gives Alexander plenty of flexibility.

“They all are workhorses and can go on the mound in any situation,” Alexander said. “They’ve been in some bad games when they’ve been hit very hard, and then they’ve all had really great games too. I think it’s just the day they’re having and who we’re playing. If the defence is behind them, they usually pitch better.”

The good news is that the Magic, who are 18-15 overall with tournaments included, usually give their pitcher plenty of run support. They’ve always been an aggressive group at the plate, and it’s paid off this summer.

“I think it’s pitch selection,” Twordik said. “A lot of times we were popping up before or grounding out and I feel like we’ve been hitting a lot of line drives and a lot of doubles and triples.”

The top four teams advance to Sunday’s playoffs. The 1-vs.-2 and 3-vs.-4 games are at 10 a.m., with the loser of the former and the winner of the latter meeting in the semifinal at 12:30 p.m.

The winner of the semi then advances to meet the winner of the 1-vs.-2 game at 3 p.m.

“Central and Eastman have proved that they’re strong teams throughout our league, as well as the Phillies, and I would say we should be in there as well,” Alexander said. “I’m thinking those would be the top four teams on Sunday but anything can happen.”

The top two teams represent Manitoba at the national championship in Calgary from July 29 to Aug. 2, with the third- and fourth-place clubs heading to the western Canadian championships in St. Albert, Alta., from Aug. 6 to 9.

“We hope to finish in the top four,” Whiteside said. “We have a lot of faith to go there. I think going to westerns would be a cool experience because we could actually do quite well there. Nationals is always so cool to be at, playing the best players in Canada, it’s an awesome experience. Either, we would be happy with.”

Twordik said her team has shown that they can better than their league record indicates, in part because they’ve been playing together since they were in U13 and have grown up together.

It’s just a matter of embracing the moment.

“I hope we have a good weekend,” Twordik said. “We really need it. We’ve come together in tournaments and playing the best of the best teams out of that Alberta region, we do amazing. Then we come back to our own league and kind of fall apart. I feel like since this is a big tournament and there’s a lot of pressure, it won’t be like we’re playing league, it will be like we’re playing these new teams and it will work out super well.”

The good news for them is that they’ll be playing at the Ashley Neufeld Softball Complex, which is in pristine shape despite the twin challenges of massive rainfall followed by incredible heat.

“It’s such an advantage to be at home, sleeping in our own bed, eating our own food, it’s such an advantage that the other teams don’t have,” Whiteside said. “Hopefully we can excel with that.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com