Silver is all the Rage for a group of Ridge Meadows softball players.
The Ridge Meadows Rage 95 made a spirited run to the finals of the Scotiabank Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championships at Softball City in Surrey before dropping a 10-1 decision to the Surrey Storm ’95 in the gold medal game on Sunday.
Coach Al Fitzpatrick said his team battled a number of the province’s best teams to get to the final, no small feat of its own. He said a little luck in the finals could easily have shifted the momentum of the game.
“We had a few bad breaks where we pounded the ball, but just couldn’t find the holes. It was just one of the games,” said Fitzpatrick. “Surrey played a great, so hats off to them . They won the provincial title last year, so we knew what we were up against.”
He said his team takes great pride in finishing second overall, after playing nearly .800 ball throughout the season.
“ You can’t single out one player over another on this squad. We played as a team all year and that’s what made us so successful,” said the coach.
The Rage opened the tournament with a flurry of offense, knocking off The Langley Xtreme 18-14. The team’s pitching took over against the North Delta Sunfire, posting a 7-1 win. That trend continued in game three of the tournament with a 7-3 win over the Burnaby Oakleys. The Rage relied on another offensive barrage against the Abbotsford Outlaws, winning 14-7. The Rage’s only defeat before the finals came at the hands came at a rematch with the Sunfire, dropping a 10-0 decision. The Rage made their way to the finals with an impressive defensive effort against the Xtreme, blanking their rival 2-0.
“I’m very proud of the way we played all year. They are a great bunch of girls,” said Fitzpatrick.
In other action at the fastpich championships in Surrey, the Ridge Meadows Pride 95 have dropped to 1-3 in round-robin play. The Pride opened the tournament Tuesday with 13-3 win over the Fraser Valley Fusion 94 squad and then went on to drop a 4-0 decision to the Washington Hustle.
They lost a heart-breaking 4-3 game to the Duncan Red Hots Wednesday morning and were pounded 11-0 by division leaders Cal Worth Firecrackers later in the evening.
In the international division, Canada’s women’s team opened the tournament with a decisive 11-1 thumping of Team New Zealand. Team Canada played Japan Thursday evening and battle Team Venezula at 1 p.m. Friday and again against Australia at 6:30 p.m. at Softball City in Surrey. Canada then plays arch-rival Team USA Saturday at 1 p.m.