Richmond 2003B Islanders girls fastpitch team has repeated as champions at the Kelowna U14B Spring Sizzle.
The Islanders headed to the Okanagan as one of the favourites, having won the tournament a year ago as a first-year team. They produce a trio of convincing wins over Clovedale ’04 Fury (15-4), South Surrey ’04 Thunder (8-2) and host Kelowna Heat (8-3) to place first in their division.
Facing the Valley ’04 Venom in their opening playoff game, pitcher Kim Cho gave up only one run in the top of the inning and the Islanders bats started off quickly, scoring a pair in their half of the inning.
Kyla Sagert then ignited a big second inning with a single, followed by Tamryn Ward, who was able to turn a solid double into a home run with aggressive base-running. Consecutive singles by Emily Smith, Sarah Dawson, Chloe Maher and Shae Sever capped a five-run inning and the Islanders never looked back, winning 12-5.
The semi-final pitted the Islanders up against the Thunder for the second time in the tournament.
After scoring two runs in the first inning, Cho and Sagert hit back-to-back singles. They were driven in by another single by Smith before the inning ended. Two more runs in the fourth capped a 6-0 win.
In the final, Richmond faced a tough Langley Xtreme '03 team.
The girls started strong with Kayla Baxter catching a fly ball at third for the first out. The Xtreme managed to squeak out two runs before the end of the inning, but the Isles responded in the bottom half with Maher leading the team off with a single, followed by another hit from JJ Leung. Speedster Kaitlyn Eng laid down a perfect drag bunt, easily running out the throw to first and scoring Maher.
The Xtreme were then able to get two outs, bringing up Gabriella Papillon, who was able to hit a single to load the bases. Taryn Hill then drilled a long ball to the fence for a stand-up double, scoring three big runs to put the Islanders up 4-2.
In the third, Olivia Zahar made a nice pick up on a hard hit towards third base to end the inning, easily throwing the batter out at first to help preserve what was now a one-run lead.
The rest of the game was a pitching duel with neither team scoring again, allowing the Islanders to earn gold with a 4-3 victory.
Congratulations to the team and coaches Angie Hill and Michelle Akizuki.
