Given where the Richmond ’99 Islanders were about four months ago, a .500 record at the U18B Western Canadian Championships was no small feat.
“We started the season with two returning players at tryouts and a couple of house players that came out as well. As other teams folded, we added players and kept building and building. It got to this point where we were very competitive at Westerns,” said Islanders head coach Barry Riva.
The hosts closed out the nine-team tournament with a 9-5 win on Saturday over the Manitoba Angels. It was their third straight victory after an 0-3 start that included a tough 13-12 loss to Saskatchewan’s Melfort Spirit that saw a big lead slip away. It was a game they would love to have back, especially after finishing just out of the four-team championship playoff round. The weekend culminated with B.C. champion South Delta Invaders defeating Manitoba’s Central Energy in Sunday’s gold medal game.
Still, the bigger picture suggested just how far a team that nearly folded had progressed.
“Richmond never even had a 1999 (rep) team for a number of years and it got to the point where I asked (association president) Al (Groff) what do you think? We figured we would just keep crawling and try to keep it going. At one point we had nine on the roster and there was a couple of girls from Maple Ridge who would help us out when we needed them until we finally had enough players.”
Softball Canada has added U19 back to its minor structure which is similar to when there used to be three years of eligibility under the old Midget division format. That means the ’99 Islanders can continue another year if there are enough players willing to.
The Western champion Invaders have already decided they won’t be continuing with players headed across the country for post-secondary education. They may look at playing at the junior or senior level instead.
“It’s good for Barry’s team to have that third year back again but now you have kids going to college who usually aren’t available until after the May Long Weekend,” explained Groff. “So you have to hold roster spots for them not knowing if they are coming back or not. It definitely makes it a little different.”
That’s why the Islanders have had success running a senior program with graduating players who are opting to skip junior eligibility entirely. Richmond recently hosted the Senior “A” and “B” Provincials with the Islanders entering “B” teams coached by Groff, along with Larry Strohan and Riva.
“These are young senior teams. My oldest player is 25,” laughed Riva.
