The Terrace StrikeForce Ladies slo-pitch team is once again Queen champions of the 2013 Kings and Queens tournament held during Canada Day long weekend in Terrace.
A slightly lower turnout than previous years with five teams – three from Terrace, one from the Telkwa/Smithers area, and one from Kitimat – didn’t stop the fierce competition throughout the tournament, played at the Cassie Hall field.
“Many ladies hit home runs by launching the ball out of the park,” said StrikeForce coach and manager Anita Davis, whose team has been entering tournaments for 14 years, both in ladies’ fastball and slo-pitch.
The weekend was “another one for the books”, she said, of the annual tournament.
Team StrikeForce went undefeated in the round robin. But then the Dirt Divas, also from Terrace, claimed a 12 - 7 victory over StrikeForce, meaning StrikeForce would have to play four back-to-back games the next day.
After winning the 10:30 a.m. game the next day, the team met up with the Dirt Divas again in the semi-finals, winning that in order to advance to the finals.
But, because of the double knockout format of the tournament, they needed to beat the opposing team, the Telkwa Pub Kittens and Cougars twice in order to truly win.
This wasn’t tough for StrikeForce, who took it to Telkwa 14 - 3 in the first match, and 11 - 7 in the second match, meaning they were reigning Queen champs once again.
Telkwa Pub took second, and the Dirt Divas won their final match to come in third.
And in the Kings tournament, Telkwa’s Glacier Roofing beat Green Bastards of Terrace in the final game 14 - 4.