A loss in tie-breakers

Times Reporter   

 

Out of three teams from Saskatchewan, two teams from Manitoba, and three teams from Alberta, Strathmore-born Katie Coulter’s Calgary Red Sox finished fifth at the Senior B Western Canada Fastpitch Finals in Saskatoon, from Aug. 15-18.

“It didn’t quite go the way we planned, but it was still really good,” Coulter said. Her team finished 3-3 in the round robin, tying for fourth place with Regina. However, since the top four teams make the playoffs, a tie-breaker game was needed.

“We played them in round robin as well, and we had a really tight game. We unfortunately weren’t hitting, we ended up losing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh. It was a really good game with them,” Coulter said.

The Red Sox lost 9-6 in the tie-break game.

“It was the same thing. We were back and forth the whole game; they’d score a run, we’d score two, they’d score two, we’d score one. Then in the sixth inning, we just kind of fell apart and let them get a few too many runs,” Coulter said.

The team’s league play finished a few weeks ago, but they had several practices leading up to Westerns to prepare.

“It was our bats. They didn’t really wake up until our fourth game into the tournament,” Coulter said. “I don’t think we could have gotten any better defensively, any runs that they got were earned runs. It came down to we weren’t hitting, and getting the runs that we needed.”

The Saskatoon Outlaws went undefeated the entire tournament, earning the gold.

“They were a very strong team,” Coulter said.

For the Red Sox, however, it’s now the end of their season. They didn’t qualify for Westerns last year, but did the year before. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, the team did not compete. 

“The last time we were there was three years ago, and we did improve. We didn’t make playoffs last time, and we didn’t make tie-breakers last time,” Coulter said. “We played really well…there was great competition, the teams were solid, you had to be on your game, every game. Even though there’s some games we’d like back, I’m still pretty proud of us.”