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U14 softball girls on winning streak

U14B team wins second in province
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The Carnarvon U14B girls softball team won silver at provincials and now moves on to the Western Canadian Softball Championships Aug. 1 to 4. The team will be out in Oak Bay raising funds for the trip to Alberta.

The Carnarvon U14B team continued its silver streak with a second place finish at the provincial championships in North Delta last weekend.

The girls baseball team will next head to Lloydminster, Alta. to compete in the U14 Western Canadian Softball Championships Aug. 1 to 4.

“They really had a good tournament. They played hard and got a good outcome,” said coach Bill Hawkins.

The 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds have played together for the past four years and have excelled under coaching from Hawkins, Deb Buxcey, Jill Moreau, Kelsie Hawkins and Erica Littler.

“Coaching for this team is amazing,” said parent Cindy Kind. “They put in hours and hours of their time and (the team) could not have done it without them.”

The elder Hawkins and Buxcey have been coaching as a team for the past 15 years and welcome the assistance from their former players.

“I love how the young women (Moreau, 25; Hawkins, 21; and Littler, 20) that we coached years ago, come back to help out these younger players and really give them something to aspire to. It’s a real community effort,” said Hawkins.

The team practises year-round, weekly in the fall and twice weekly in spring. “It’s just year-after-year it all builds on itself. The ability to work on things in the off season allows them to play at that level,” he said.

The provincial tournament saw the team play seven games over three days. “We were three-and-one in total, and in the playoffs they won right through to the final,” he said. The girls lost to the Vancouver Wildcats 3-2.

Hawkins said this team is the first from the Oak Bay Carnarvon baseball association to medal at the provincials.

“It’s quite a feat for them,” he said.

The biggest challenge in the next three weeks is raising enough cash to get them to Alberta for the tournament. The estimated cost is $14,000 for travel and hotels.

“We fundraise throughout the year, but this is kind of unexpected. You can’t be so bold as to think you’re going to go this far,” Hawkins said.

The team will be out canvassing for donations in Oak Bay. To donate contact Hawkins at billhawkins@shaw.ca.