INNISAIL – They are tiny and young but pack a powerful bat.
And already the dozen young girls on the U11 Innisfail Hawks girls softball team have learned how and when to hit the groove for timely hitting and clutch pitching.
“They are an incredibly hardworking group; very coachable, great attitudes and uplifting girls,” said Lorraine Dingman, who coached the team this season with Chris Martin, Clayton Seguin and Nathan Malsbury. The team managers are Jennifer Wood and Melissa Dudley.
“All 12 girls were critical to the team's success over the weekend, with their incredible commitment, positive attitudes, and overall team spirit carrying them to a gold medal,” said Dingman.
The young Hawks squad played a total of six games at the provincials in Calgary, which was held from June 30 to July 2.
And they went undefeated in their journey to gold.
The team’s first of four games of preliminary play were against the Sedgewick Steelers, and it was a dramatic nailbiter.
Everley Malsbury hit a walk-off home run to win the game 12-11.
That key victory inspired the Hawks’ hitting game as they more easily won game 2 by a margin of 19-11 against Calgary Nosecreek Chaos.
The Innisfail bats continued to be hot in game 3 with a 15-7 win over Calgary Southfour.
Play got interesting again in Game 4 with the Hawks up against regional rival Olds Pistols.
Once again it was timely hitting that made the difference as Kaiya Duncalfe belted two home runs to give Innisfail a thrilling 17-16 win to finish the four-game preliminary round play.
The Innisfail Hawks' unblemished 4-0 preliminary round record put the team at the top of its provincial championship division, and second overall behind a strong Foothills Fury team that also finished at 4-0.
However, the Hawks had to play the tough Sedgewick Steelers again.
“We anticipated this would be tough game with the tight finish we had with them on Friday,” said Dingman.
Once again, the rematch against Sedgewick was a nailbiter.
The Innisfail Hawks wound up with its second close win over the Steelers following a “timely pep talk” by coach Chris Martin to convince Raya Dingman to slide into home on a wild pitch.
That put the Hawks into the gold medal game against number one seeded Foothills Fury.
The final match of provincials proved to be entertaining.
The Fury led early but stellar pitching by Everley Malsbury and Callie McAlister and strong presence behind the plate by Danica Seguin kept the young Innisfail girls in the game.
The Hawks ultimately battled back with the tying run on third base when the game was stopped for a rain delay.
But play resumed. The Innisfail team found their offence and led Foothills by two going into the Fury’s final at bat.
The Hawks then had clutch pitching from McAlister, who recorded a key strike out, and centre fielder Brynn Wood who got the final two outs.
It was over. Innisfail had claimed the gold medal with an 11-9 win.
“This was a lot of fun,” said Dingman, whose 2023 season was her first as a coach. “I look forward to next year.”
