The Swift Current U14 Sonic won six of seven games to claim gold at the Softball Saskatchewan U14 South Open Tournament in Regina over the weekend.
The U14 Sonic started off 2-0 on Friday. The Sonic won their first game of the tournament 18-1 over Carlyle Treaty 4. Bree Pavely pitched four solid innings, while Brynn Watts came on in relief.
The second game of the day was an 11-5 win over the Estevan Elite. A seven-run second inning helped the Sonic get out to an 8-1 lead. Watts and Abbey Arntsen combined for the win on the mound. Riley Gramlich hit a solo home run in the fourth inning.
Saturday morning the Sonic took on their familiar opponent, the Gravelbourg Lightning. The Lightning brought their ‘A’ game, combining solid pitching and defense, to only allow the Sonic to score runs in two innings and limited them to four hits. The gritty Gravelbourg team chipped away scoring two runs in the first, second, fourth and seventh innings to beat the Sonic 8-6. The Sonic struggled on the mound and defensively making nine errors. Pavely started the game, giving up four runs in two innings. Watts and Arntsen each made a relief appearance, each giving up two runs.
Saturday evening the Sonic defeated a strong Weyburn Wild team 5-2. The game featured strong pitching and excellent defense through the first four innings with the Sonic holding a 1-0 lead as Arnsten didn’t allow any runs in her four innings of work. After six innings the Sonic and Wild were tied at two. The Sonic scored three in the top of the seventh inning and held the Wild scoreless in the bottom of the seventh to win 5-2. Watts pitched solid in relief, allowing two runs in three innings of work.
After the round robin the Sonic were in a three-way tie for first place with a 3-1 record. The Sonic found themselves in third place and would have to win three back-to-back-to-back games on Sunday to win the championship.
Sunday morning the Sonic played the Weyburn Wild and jumped out to a 6-2 lead after four innings behind solid pitching by Arnsten. After a scoreless fifth inning the Wild scored seven runs in the sixth inning and two runs in the top of the seventh to take 11-6 lead. The Sonic, facing elimination, scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to sneak away with a 12-11 win.
In the semi-final, the Sonic would once again face the Gravelbourg Lightning. The Sonic bats, which had been struggling the last two games, would come to life again as they scored four runs in the first inning, five in the second inning, one run in the third and three more runs in the fourth to come away with a 13-4 win. Arnsten led the Sonic with solid pitching and Watts finished the game in relief. The offense was led by Gramlich, who hit a single, a triple and a long homerun over the centre field fence. Watts chipped in with two doubles and a single. Rayanne Fleischfresser added two singles.
The Sonic played their third straight game of the day against the Estevan Elite in the championship game. The game featured strong hitting by both teams early as the Elite had a 7-5 lead after two innings. The Sonic offense exploded with seven runs in the third inning. The offensive explosion was again led by Gramlich, who hit a three-run homerun deep over the right field fence. The Sonic scored another five runs in the fifth inning while holding the Elite offense in check the rest of the way. All 11 Sonic players reached base in the final game. Gramlich led the way with the homerun, a triple, and two singles. Sami Wandler added a triple and two singles. Pavely and Arntsen each had three singles. Fleischfresser hit a double and a single, while Taylor Schury had two singles.
Arntsen led the way on the mound with her third start of the day while Watts finished off the win in relief. The final score ended 17-7 for the Sonic as they finished their championship run with an overall record of 19-4.
