Eastman dominates U17 AAA provincials

The Eastman Wildcats dominated Softball Manitoba’s under-17 AAA provincial championship at Ashley Neufeld Softball Complex on the weekend, beating Central Energy 4-0 in the final on Sunday.

Eastman went 6-0 in the round-robin, outscoring their opponents 54-21, and then beat Central 10-1 in the 1-vs-2 game on Sunday morning to vault into the final.

Meanwhile, the Westman Magic edged the Interlake Phillies 5-3 in the 3-vs.-4 game, earning a semifinal matchup with Central. After the Energy won that 3-2 in nine innings, it set up a third meeting of the weekend between Eastman and Central.

Eastman coach Russ Kihn said his club, which went 18-6 in the regular season, had a great game against a tough opponent.

“It was a little closer but Central Energy is a really strong team,” said Kihn, whose daughter Lola threw a two-hitter in the final. “They’re a good club. We’ve played them a lot this year and they battle all the time right through. Today, our pitcher, Lola Kihn, pitched amazing. She threw a fantastic game and our defence was strong, like always.

“It was fitting we ended the game on a double play, showing the defence is the most important thing and that’s what we’re about.”

Eastman broke open a scoreless tie with three runs in the bottom of the third inning and added one more in the sixth frame.They ended the game in the field on a beautifully executed double play. Lola Kihn, who hit a grand slam against the Magic during the round-robin, was named tournament MVP.

Overall, the Wildcats went 8-0 and outscored their opponents 68-22, more than tripling them. They held their opponents to two or fewer runs in five games.

“Through the few days, I liked the way they built to the weekend,” Kihn said. “It wasn’t a slow start — we won two games the first day — but it was close games and they learned from that and started fighting a little more, and the bats got hotter as the weekend went. We started playing stronger teams and we just got better

“The way they kept improving and weren’t just satisfied with what they had was fantastic.”

Eastman and Central will represent Manitoba at the national championship in Calgary from July 29 to Aug. 2, with Westman and Interlake heading to the western Canadian championships in St. Albert, Alta., from Aug. 6 to 9.

Last weekend, Eastman’s U15 squad also won gold at provincials.

MIXED MAGIC

In the semifinal matchup between Westman and Central, both teams put across two runs in the opening game, and while Central more consistently threatened, the game ended up in extra innings. Magic head coach Kayla Alexander said the bats went a little cold for both teams.

“There were a lot of good hits, but in the air, the wind seemed to slow them down and make them catchable,” Alexander said. “We kind of struggled trying to hit it on a line or on the ground. We just weren’t doing that, but both weren’t.”

With a runner starting on second base in extra innings, the Magic were able to get her to third with one out in the eighth inning but couldn’t cash in.

The Magic then had to make a dramatic, two-out play at the plate to keep the game square.

After failing to mount any offence in the top of the ninth, a combination of three errors pushed across the winning run for Central in the bottom of the inning.

Katie Bell and Rachel Lyver both drove in Magic runs, with Callie Franklin going the distance in taking the loss, allowing seven hits in 8 2/3 innings.

“It’s super tough,” Alexander said. “It’s heartbreaking. They played really well and played like the team they could have been playing like all season. It’s heartbreaking but they fought every single moment in that game and they have everything to be proud of.”

In the Interlake game in the morning, Quinn Twordik, Kasia Baranyk, Katie Bell, Rose Cochrane and Jade Campbell all had two hits in the 5-3 victory. The Magic pushed across three runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 3-1 lead and never let the Phillies tie.

Twordik threw a complete game eight-hitter, striking out five and allowing two earned runs.

The Magic went 4-2 in the round-robin, beating Manitoba 12-1, Interlake 9-8, Winnipeg 12-3 and Smitty’s 13-1, and losing 9-7 to Central and 10-1 to Eastman. That means Westman beat everyone other than the two finalists.

“We were good,” Alexander said. “When we played Eastman we kind of struggled there, but all the other games, we found our team. It was good to see that team come back. They just kept fighting and they wanted it but we just came up short.”

The Ashley Neufeld Softball Complex hosts the U11 AA and U13 AA provincial championships next weekend, with the U13 Magic heading to Crystal City for the final AAA playdowns of the summer.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com