INNISFAIL – With half of her girls never having a prior chance to claim a provincial title, head coach Andrea Meding was still awestruck last week of what her U13 team accomplished.
The young 12-member Innisfail Hawks softball team went to Leduc with a dream; lost one crucial game, bounced back and won it all with clutch hitting in the bottom of the last inning of the gold medal game.
“I coached this team last year and I have six of the returning players and six girls who had never been to provincials before,” said Meding, noting her team won silver in 2022. “They worked on their own to really build the skills and it showed with how much they improved this year.”
The provincial tourney in Leduc began on July 28 and wrapped up with the gold medal game on July 30.
The Innisfail team of 12 and 13-year-old players - led by Meding and assistants Tiffany Oszil, Terry Giesbrecht and John MacNeil - was first tasked to get through a four-game round-robin preliminary round in their five-team pool.
The Hawks first round-robin game on July 28 was against the Bonnyville Angels; a squad Innisfail lost twice to at a Stettler tournament last June.
But the Innisfail squad’s bats were hot and pitcher Rachel Wood had a great arm on the mound. The Hawks claimed a first game 13-12 victory.
Next up was the Delburne Dodgers but the tournament was running late.
“The sun was in the catcher’s eyes the entire game,” said Meding. “Bree Meding caught a fierce game, not giving up unearned bases from behind the plate.”
And the Hawks’ offence answered the call with Kenzie MacNeil and Emma Hartigan batting 4 for 4 and 3 for 3 respectively.
Innisfail went on to win 16 - 9.
Game 3 was a much different story.
Innisfail was up against the Beaumont Blitz.
It was a nail-biting slugfest right up to the very end.
Beaumont came on top with a 17-16 win; handing Innisfail its first and only loss of the tourney.
The Hawks needed to turn things around. In the round-robin’s final game they were up against the Drumheller Pure Venom.
“We went into this game knowing we had to come out with a win if we wanted to make it to Sunday's semifinal game,” said Meding.
“Our bats were hot, especially Kenzie MacNeil and Emelia Oszil who both hit in-the-park home runs.”
Innisfail won 14-9 to finish on top in their round-robin pool.
They now faced Camrose Crossfire in the semifinal.
Solid pitching proved to be the key for Innisfail as starter Lauryn Green shut down the Crossfire when she had to, with reliever Wood closing.
Coming from behind, the Hawks’ offence burst out in the fourth and fifth innings by scoring five runs in each to win 11 – 9 and earn their ticket to play in the gold medal game.
Innisfail’s opponent was the Lacombe Matrix; a team they beat, tied and lost to during the 2023 season.
And what was interesting was that the Hawks and Matrix regularly practised together before the provincial tourney.
Many players from both teams even became friends. There was hope they would eventually play against each other in the provincial gold medal game.
That’s exactly what happened – Innisfail versus Lacombe.
And it was a barnburner right to the bottom of the very last inning.
With the score tied and with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning, Innisfail’s MacNeil hit a clutch double.
That was followed by Oszil’s walk-off single down the middle.
The Hawks won 12 – 11 to take the gold medal back home to Innisfail.
But there was more.
“It was also evident how strong their sportsmanship is,” said Meding. “Our girls took time to get to know and cheer on other teams through the entire season.
“This continued through the rollercoaster of the provincial tournament,” she added. “Their parents should be proud. I sure am.”
