Parksville’s U12 Black Rage fastpitch team kept its unbeaten season alive by winning their district playdowns, but it all comes down to the Island finals now.
Undefeated on the season at 17-0 the Black Rage won all 13 of their regular season house games to take top spot in their six team Mid-Island league (made up of teams from Ladysmith, Nanaimo and Parksville) and went 4-0 to take tournament gold in Nanaimo at the six-team district finals.
In the gold medal game the Black Rage blasted the Nanaimo Blue Jays 18-4. The Rage sent three pitchers to the hill in that game — Selena Spracklin, Madi Jacobson and Syvanna McNichol — who combined for 13 strikeouts.
“It was pretty impressive, The whole group did well,” first year coach Ian Kellow said after, “they got better as the tournament went on.”
Their toughest competition this season has been their Parksville counterparts the Red Rage.
In their tournament meeting the Red Rage were leading 6-1 in the bottom of the fourth but the Blacks came back to win the game 10-6 in the regulation five innings.
“They’re a tough team to play,” said Kellow, who had props for Red Rage pitcher Dakota Harstad “who pitched really good — she had eight Ks in three innings against us.”
“It’s been a very fun season and we’re not done yet,” Kellow answered when asked about the streak, and explained his 11 player roster of 10-12 year olds is a great mix of girls.
“It was really neat to see the girls that haven’t played before buying into the team concept, everybody sliding and doing everything they needed to do to win. They’ve all learned quite a bit,” he said, and made the point that in the tournament final “the bottom of our lineup was outhitting the top of our lineup and that makes it pretty tough (on opposing teams).”
In the meantime the Rage are back practicing at Springwood Park for the U12 Girls Regional C Island Championships slated for Port Alberni July 5-7.