The Red Deer Rage U19B Rage pulled off a remarkable run to earn their spot at the Western Canadian Softball Championships.
The Rage will head to Unity, Sask., from Aug. 3-6 to compete for western supremacy, after winning the provincial title on July 15.
Red Deer opened provincials in Irma with a pair of victories on July 13 but lost of a trio of games on Saturday to put their playoff hopes in jeopardy.
“We narrowly avoided a tiebreaker. There were a couple of upsets which set us into the third place going into the playoffs,” head coach Dean Pasiuk recalled.
On finals Sunday, the Rage needed three victories to earn a provincial title. They beat Lacombe in the third versus fourth game and topped the defending provincial champs 4-0 in the semi-final. In the final, they ousted the Central Alberta Impact 9-5.
“They came to play on Sunday and they erased the memories of Saturday and played flawless ball,” Pasiuk said about his team.
“We hit the ball when we needed to. They played incredible defence when they needed too. Our pitching staff did an incredible job keeping hitters off balance. We just came together at the right time on Sunday and played super good ball.”
After a defeat in the provincial final, Pasiuk said the team had three goals this season. Firstly, winning the Girls Prairie Softball League which they did then win provincials and play at Westerns. With the tournament last weekend, they accomplished all three.
“Most of these girls have been playing rage ball their whole lives,” Pasiuk added.
“That core group of girls that have been playing together for a lot of years really held the fort down when things were looking shaky on Saturday.”
Other Central Alberta teams that won provincial titles last weekend included the U10 Boys Olds Spitfires, U14B Girls Elnora Eagles, U16C Girls Stettler Storm, U16D Bentley Blue Jays, and the U19C Girls Stettler Storm. For the Bentley Blue Jays, it was their second straight provincial title.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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