Despite valiant efforts, the District playoffs marked the end of the season for the Sooke U14 C girls fastball team on July 15 to 17 at Art Morris Park.
Sooke Minor Fastball hosted the District playoffs for the U14 C division of South Vancouver Island, which had 12 teams participate. The District playoffs for the U14 C had two berths, meaning the top two teams would go to Provincials.
The winners were:
Gold --- Langford Lizards.
Silver -- Saltspring
Bronze -- Central Saanich Extremes
According to Sandra Nelson, Sooke Minor Fastball president, the Sooke U14 C girls “played their hearts out and lost by one run, thereby not advancing.”
On June 16, the girls played against Saltspring and lost 5-0. They continued on and defeated Duncan 18-8.
In the finals, the girls ended up losing against Langford, 10-9, taking them out of the running for Provincials.
“It was right down to the last inning, the last hit,” said Tracey Fogarty, U14 C team manager. “Everybody was so exhausted, tired and cold.”
Although the girls didn’t make it past Districts, Fogarty said they had a good season.
“The girls did have a good season and they played well and we’re proud of them.”
Nelson said for this particular series of District playoffs, the teams played a “double loss knockout,” meaning the loss of two games is the end of the season for the respective team.
There were two different pools -- the mainstream and the losers pool, where if a team lost a game they would have to work their way back to the top.
“Which means a lot of the times you end up with a bunch of extra games,” Nelson said.
The Provincials for U14 C girls will be on July 6 to 8 in Richmond.
Sooke will be hosting the U19 C girls Provincials on the same dates.