Delta Heat Win Gold

Tournaments or playoffs are a time when as a parent you leave the uniform untouched, meaning leave them in the bag.

Parents quite often have a sense that to play a sport you have to have clean uniforms and all neatly tucked in the duffle bags so they can play better and WIN.

Not the word of truth, cause if you play, ref or are involved it’s all about a sense of keeping the stains in until the season officially comes to an end.

You might think this only applies to boy’s or men’s sports, but in reality superstitutions are for both sexs.

This past weekend saw players compete in the U16 Nationals at North Delta’s Community Park and all were competing for the Championship trophy.

For teams from Ontario to BC time stood still as they played an impressive brand of ball to the delight of all the onlookers that saw the young ladies slide, dive, jump and play as aggressive as any boy’s team of the same age.

When all was said and done Delta stood alone with the Championship Trophy surrounding by Family, Friends and numerous onlookers.

The team stood tall and proud all patiently waiting to receive the medals and when names were called out some had taken off their shoes – er cleats.

Rawnie Weststrate pitched played a brief time and was in shock and could be seen crying off to the side while bench boss Bill Olexa was full of smiles.

He was extremely proud of the girls who played exceptional all weekend that saw the Heat win all, except one of their round robin games the previous days.

They lost (9-8) a close battle against Alberta’s River City Hornets, but were ranked in the top eight teams to enter the finals for the event.

Anyone that has played in a ball tournament knows if you make it to the final day, you might or could play back to back games and that is what Delta was forced to do.

Sunday saw them play at noon against Oakville Angels and managing a win they advanced to the semifinals.

Delta’s next opponent was the White Rock Renegades that saw them defeat them in a 3-2 nailbiter and following a brief break they faced the Surrey Storm ‘01 for the Championship.

The Storm utilized the talents of (SS) Grace Messmer who recently returned from the WBSC Junior Women’s Softball World Championship in Florida and hopes were she might be able to carry the Storm to victory.

Such wasn’t the case as the Heat’s bats got hot at the right time and their sixth run was scored by Megan Hendrickson, the team’s pitcher.

As she crossed home she was forced to bend down in hopes of missing getting hit and the ball was thrown over her head followed by a sigh of relief brief pause as she slid across home plate.

The Storm managed two more runs in the final inning, but were unable to get the all important sixth run giving the Heat what they fought so hard for.

The end result saw the Delta Heat win Gold with the Surrey Storm grabbing Silver while the White Rock Renegades managed to get the Bronze.

Awards went to players from Ontario and Manitoba and BC which included Surrey Storm outfielder Kennedy Galley, Delta Heat second baseman Amyee Godmaire, and White Rock Renegades catcher Lauren Benson.

Top player and Tournament All-Star was Delta Heat pitcher Megan Hendrickson who batted .430 during the final three games and also played third.

She went 3-for-4 in the Gold medal match and allowed three runs in the only two games she pitched during the Championship.

Congrats to the Delta Heat and special “thanks” to the many volunteers who gave up their weekend to help such a great cause.