Magic snag second silver of season at westerns

Members of the under-13 Westman Magic returned home from Balgonie, Sask., with silver medals draped around their necks after an outstanding showing at the western Canadian championship last weekend.

“It was a huge success for our girls,” said head coach Heidi Figol. “The resiliency of our team and working through a long weekend of ball, I would say, is an overall success for our girls.”

Tournaments are always tricky. Successful teams need to show the mental fortitude to battle through a difficult schedule while showing steady improvement to peak at the right moment.

On the opening day of the tournament, the Magic hit the ground running with a big 9-2 win over the Prince Albert Aces, a team that had beaten the Magic in both of their prior meetings this season.They followed it up with a 13-1 loss at the hands of the Calgary Adrenaline.

With a 1-1 record at the end of the first day, the Magic would need to show improvement on Day 2 if they planned to move on.

The next day, the team won both of its games. They started the day strong with a confident 11-4 win over the Saskatoon Raiders.

“Our hitting was outstanding. I would say offensively in tight moments we definitely made the plays we needed,” said Figol about the teams play throughout the weekend. “We made some great defensively plays, and our hitting was so timely.”

Next, the team faced Red Deer Rage in what turned out to be a nail-bitter of a game that ended in a 16-15 come-from-behind win for the Magic. Figol was especially pleased with how the team responded in the game. She says it will be one of her fondest memories from the weekend.

“We just told (the players) we know you can do this. You have to stay focused. You have to work hard and this game isn’t over until it’s over,” said Figol. “The girls played their hearts out.”

Down 12-9 going into the seventh inning, the Magic put up five runs to the Rage’s two to tie the game at 14 and force extra innings. While some might call it wizardry, Figol attributes the win to grit and tenacity.

With a 3-1 record going into the final day of the round-robin, the Magic were well positioned to move onto the knock-out stage.

In their last two round-robin games, the Magic went 1-1 beating the Ridge Meadows Pride 9-0 and falling 6-0 to the Westside Outlaws.

As it turned out, the win against Red Deer was crucial. Because of it, the team finished the round-robin with a 4-2 record to take third place ahead of the Prince Albert Aces who boasted an identical record. A loss there would have meant swapping places with Red Deer, which just barely missed out on the knock-out stage with a 3-3 record.

Finishing in third meant the Magic would face elimination every game in the playoffs.

Their first test would be a rematch against the Prince Albert Aces. They knew the matchup would be one of the most difficult the team had faced all season.

“We had to carry the resilience, the grit, we had to carry everything into that game because we knew what they had and we knew what we had to do to beat them,” said Figol.

The game lived up to expectations. The two teams battled back and forth with the magic building up a 4-1 lead through five innings. Just when it seemed they might be in the clear, the Aces put up 5 runs in the fifth inning to bring the score to a narrow 7-6 in favor of Westman. Ultimately, the Magic held on to finish the game 10-8 and advance to the next round.

“We went back and forth with them all game,” said Figol. “Everybody contributed to that win, so that was a major highlight for us, ending that game to move us on into the semifinals.”

In the semifinals, the Magic met the White Butte Storm and came out with an 11-5 win. The team was rounding into form heading into the finals. Now they had a chance to play for gold.

“I couldn’t be more proud of this group of girls and the grittiness they showed,” said Figol. “They genuinely care for one another as teammates and friends, and I’m just really proud that I got to be a part of that.”

In the gold-medal match, the Magic faced the Calgary Adrenaline, the same team that beat them 13-1 on the opening day of the tournament.

Their magical run came to end, with Westman losing 15-4. Though the team did not claim gold, Figol is very pleased with the result.

“I can’t explain how proud I am of these girls to come home with a silver medal from the western Canadian championships,” said Figol. “I think going forward this is a weekend for them to remember … having success at this early age, they’re going to look back and remember this weekend for sure.”

The Magic’s season may be over, but the team did themselves and the region proud at westerns. After a dominant regular season in which the Magic went 24-0 in the Manitoba Premier Softball League and finished second at provincials, they rallied together and found a way to succeed at westerns.

“After such a long season battling through weather and injuries and coming together with the goal in mind of getting as far as we can in Westerns, we just took it one game at a time,” said Figol. “To end with silver, I think (for) our girls and our coaching staff that’s something that we are extremely proud of.”

» rmccarthy@brandonsun.com