This weekend, Port Alberni hosted the U14 “C” Girls Provincial Championships, which featured 16 teams from across BC selected to represent their district.
The 16 teams entered a round robin format, where the top eight teams went to Round A and numbers nine to 16 went to a “B” Pool.
Host team the Alberni Valley Blazers ended up in the “B” Pool, and played a hard-fought final game against the Langley Thunder to take home the bronze.
“It was a nail-biter to the end,” admitted head coach Rob Langlois, as the girls had to rally back against a deficit in the early innings in order to take the lead.
“They played awesome,” he went on. “They really battled this whole weekend. They held it together as a team and did what they had to do to win.”
Langlois said he heard plenty of comments about the tournament from other coaches.
“We’ve heard tons of compliments,” he said. “I can’t believe how many compliments we’ve had. The tournament went off pretty much without a hitch. The crews did a really good job taking care of four fields at a time.”
Tournament director Shannon Charlesworth agreed that the tournament went “fabulous.”
“It was well-attended, we had great weather,” she said. “There was great camraderie. Great sportsmanship from both the fans and the players.”
The tournament was hosted and sponsored by the Alberni Valley Minor Softball Association.
The provincial championship title went to the Kelowna Elite. The Abbotsford Phantoms received silver, and the Kelowna Blue Jays received bronze.
In the “B” Pool, the Penticton Power took home the gold, the Langford Lightning grabbed silver and host team the Alberni Valley Blazers won bronze.