Thunder teams have successful home tournaments

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The Strathmore U16 and U21 junior Thunder fast pitch teams steadily improved against some great teams in their home tournaments from May 8-10.
U16 coach Jason Sauve saw tremendous improvements in his team from the first pitch of the tournament to the end.
“We had a great weekend of ball finishing third in our opening weekend tournament,” said Sauve. “We started with a 11-5 loss to a tough St. Albert team on Friday, Saturday saw a 16-1 win over Jarvie, and a 18-3 win over Innisfail.
“That put us in the semifinal playoff Sunday against Jarvie, that ended in an 8-6 loss.”
Despite competing against older teams, he liked how his team responded to the challenge.
“We were competing against U18 teams while we are a U16B team, so it was a good weekend,” said Sauve. “The girls have already shown improvement and the performance points towards a strong season.”
He admits the play at the plate has been exceptional so far in this young season.
“We saw the whole team being patient at the plate and driving the first pitches, very few strikeouts and many good hits,” said Sauve.
U21 juniors head coach, Lanky Johnson, liked the determination that his players displayed from the opening pitch and were able to carry it through the rest of the games.
“Friday night began with a come-from-behind win in a high-scoring game with 14-13 win over Duchess DB’s, the Medicine Hat league team. We were trailing early 8-0, slowly came back and tied the game and won it in extra innings,” said Johnson.
“Saturday, we went up against the senior women’s team, the Calgary Hurricanes, and were never in trouble and grabbed an 8-5 win.”
The victory guaranteed the Thunder either the first or second seed going into the last round robin where again they showed resiliency.
“The Thunder fell behind early, but shut the door on the Sluggers in the final three innings … picking up four runs late in the game and left two in scoring position with the final out and lost 7-4,” said Johnson.
The Thunder got a re-match with the Duchess DB’s and some early errors cost them a victory.
“Sunday’s playoff (saw us) face the DB’s once again and had a 4-4 tie (going) into the 6th inning, but we had two back to back miscues and allowed the DB’s three runs and had to settle for a 7-4 loss,” said Johnson.
Overall, Johnson has been satisfied with his teams play so far this season.
“The Thunder’s record for the season to this point is at 8-2 and playing overall really good ball. The defense is really playing solid and all players have had impact with the bats,” he said.
Both teams will be hosting provincials in Strathmore from July 8-10.