U17 Magic split on opening day of provincials

The Westman Magic are 1-1 after the first day of Softball Manitoba’s under-17 provincial championship at Ashley Neufeld Softball Complex on Thursday, beating the Manitoba Angels and then falling to a furious rally by Central Energy.

In their afternoon game against the Angels, the Magic blew open a 5-1 game in the top of the seventh inning en route to a 12-1 victory.

Olivia Wilson had three hits and drove in two runs, while Ivy Fry had two hits and scored twice and Kasia Baranyk had two hits, an RBI and scored three runs.

Quinn Twordik went the distance in the circle, allowing five hits and one earned run while striking out three.

In their evening game against the Energy, the Magic led 7-2 after five innings but let it all slip away, surrendering four runs in the sixth and three in the seventh inning to fall 9-7.

Twordik, Baranyk, Olivia Wilson and Rachel Lyver all had two hits for Westman.

Callie Franklin allowed six runs on nine hits through 5 2/3 innings, with Paige Rampton giving up three runs on one hit and three walks in 1 1/3 innings. Taylor Wall earned the victory in relief, scattering two hits over four innings and holding the Magic without a run.

Central also blanked Smitty’s 10-0 to move to 2-0.

The Eastman Wildcats (2-0) won both their outings, beating the Winnipeg Lightning 8-7 and Smitty’s Terminators 7-5. The other of the pre-tournament favourites, the Interlake Phillies, topped the Lightning 8-2 and the Angels 10-3.

The four-day event had to be pushed back three-and-a-half hours due to the rain, but all seven games were played. The opening games originally set for 10:30 were played at 2, the draw at 2 was moved to 4:30, and instead of one game played at 7, there were three.

Westman plays Eastman today at 12:30 and Interlake at 5:30, and on Saturday, they meet Winnipeg at 12:30 and Smitty’s at 5:30.

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.

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.

» The Brandon Sun