The Red Deer Rage girl's softball team is headed to the 2024 U19 Women's Canadian Fast Pitch Championship next week.
They booked their ticket after defeating the Edmonton Warriors 17-15 in the Softball Alberta U19A Girl's Provincial Championship final in Edmonton.
However, it certainly didn't come easy for the Rage. Tied at 15 in the bottom of the seventh inning Jenna Funk homered to centre field to walk off the Warriors in dramatic fashion.
"The group that we have are a very hardworking team," said Rage head coach Teri Hunter.
"We've been on the same team with a lot of them for a while so it's been really great to see them develop over the years. They're also not afraid to put in the work on their own to get to where they want to be. A lot of them have had goals to play college softball since they were very young."
She's been coaching a lot of the girls since they were very young and this year marked the end of some of their minor league careers as they age out of the U19 level.
Of the 15 girls who are graduating this year all but two are set to play softball at the collegiate level next year in Canada and the United States.
This includes Jenna Funk (Colby Community College), Brooke Zinken (Colby Community College), Briley Christensen (Colby Community College), Sarah Wilkins (Southern Maine Community College), Sloan Scotvold (Southern Maine Community College) Katie Blair (North Iowa Community College) Madi Hunter (University of Mary, Bismarck), Alexa Rosgen (West Liberty University), Kate Gross (University of Calgary Dinos), Katelyn Giesbrecht (University of Lethbridge), Avery Terpsma (Odessa Community College), Ava Burghardt (Gap year), Devyn Rice (gap year), Anna Elliott (McCook Community College), and Katie Warner (MacEwan University).
However, before they head off to college they'll compete for a national title at the U19 Women's Canadian Fast Pitch Championship in Saskatoon from July 31 - Aug. 4.
"We've been working. We set a goal at the beginning of the season that we'd love to medal at nationals so I think they're gung-ho to prove themselves as a team from Red Deer that we can compete with the best from Canada," she added.
In total, 21 teams from across Canada will compete for the title. Red Deer will be one of three Alberta and their first game will be against Saskatchewan two followed by Ontario two, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, British Columbia one, and Ontario six.
On Saturday, Aug. 3 the playoffs will begin with the finals on Sunday.
This year the Rage didn't have a league to play in but got plenty of games in through tournament play. Hunter said they mostly stayed in Alberta but are regarded as one of the most talented groups in the province.
"I think our strength number one is our defence. We have some phenomenal athletes that play a clean game and there's not a lot of errors on the field. Hitters against us really have to earn their hits," she said.
"When we're all firing our bats are pretty strong too. It doesn't matter who's in the lineup one through nine anybody is capable of getting a hit at any point."
