B-finish for Mother’s Day

Times Reporter   

 

Following three losses in the round robin to the Calgary Red Sox, the Calgary Kalzen, and the Regina Riot, the Strathmore U18A Thunder went on to win the B final at the fourth annual Mother’s Day Opener Fastpitch Tournament from May 9-11 at the Ag Grounds. The Thunder defeated the Riot – to whom they had originally lost – in the final, 9-2, after defeating the Calgary Xtreme 10-3 in the semis.

“Those girls, they just really stepped up,” Thunder coach Lanky Johnson said. He gavee special mention to lead-off hitter Jessica Murphy and pitcher Kirstyn Johnson, along with teammates Shae Lane, Alyssa Lavallee, and Shania Carargata. Lavallee had two triples in the final; Jessica Murphy went 7-8 at the plate. Caragata provided six RBIs when needed.

“Our biggest thing going into the weekend was that we suffered two major blows. We’ve lost two experienced players,” Johnson said of Morgan Ackerman and Makayla Rombough. Ackerman broke her hand and will be out for six weeks, while Rombough is done for the season.

“With all the training we’ve been doing, losing two veterans, we had to switch everything around,” Johnson said. “From Saturday into Sunday, we had a new pattern, we had to do a new lineup. We also had to go over positional changes. It all kind of came together finally.”

The Calgary Red Sox Senior B women’s team went on to defeat the Calgary Kalzen in the A final by a score of 4-3. Eight teams advanced to either the A or B-side, while the remaining 12 finished up the second round.

One of those second round teams was the Strathmore Thunder U16 girls. The U16’s finished first in their pool, but lost their first two playoff games on the B-side, finally eliminated by the Cranbrook Heat U18B team. 

The U18A Thunder played a double header in Calgary on May 13 following the Mother’s Day Opener, and will travel to Sherwood Park’s River City Tournament from May 16-18. The U14 and U12 Strathmore girls will host a tournament of their own at the Ag Grounds May 16 – 17.