The 2004 Fraser Valley Fusion girls fast pitch team is bringing home gold again, this time from the national championships.
The squad, with players from 黑马磁力, Maple Ridge, Mission, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack, won the U14 Girls Canadian Fast Pitch Championships in Montreal, held Aug. 15 to 19.
The players began their quest for a national title with a 4-1 record in the qualifying round against teams from B.C., Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland.
Their only loss was at the hands of the Smitty鈥檚 Terminators from Manitoba. Outscoring their opponents by a combined margin of 45 runs resulted in a third place finish securing a critical top four position going into the championship playoffs.
The opening game of the playoffs pitted the Fusion team against the #2 seed from Ontario, the Waterloo Ghost Gold.
The prospects for a win were quickly fading with Fusion trailing 5-3 at the top of the 7th inning. With two out, Maya Moreno singled. First baseman Jessica Heutink followed up with a double.
Back to back walks to Siena Jones and Abby Bates would load the bases to score Moreno.
With an 0-2 count, shortstop Reilley Coghill singled on the next pitch to drive in two runs and regain the lead. Kayla White would add an insurance marker with a single scoring Abby Bates to cap a 7-5 comeback victory.
Maya Moreno was the starting pitcher with Cassidy Affeldt pitching the final three innings in relief. Center fielder Kayla White was the offensive spark going three for four at the plate.
Game two of the playoffs featured a re-match with the Smitty鈥檚 squad from Manitoba.
In contrast to the first meeting that saw 17 runs scored, this contest turned into a pitcher鈥檚 duel with the Smitty鈥檚 and Fusion pitching staffs recording nine and 15 strikeouts, respectively.
After spotting Manitoba an early 2-0 lead, the local team battled back to tie the game in the sixth inning. Affeldt would double to score catcher, Rachel Boles. Jessica Heutink followed up with a double to score Affeldt. Unfortunately for the locals the rally would come up short losing a heartbreaker 3-2 in extra innings.
The loss to Manitoba dropped the Fusion down to the B-side final and a date with their provincial rivals the Victoria Devils.
The team that beat them for gold at the B.C. championships in July. As expected this would prove out to be another tight affair with Victoria leading 2-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning.
Affeldt would lead off the inning with a single and advance to second on Heutink鈥檚 fielder鈥檚 choice. Then Moreno reached base on an error. Once again Reilley Coghill would come up clutch with a single to drive in two runs giving Fusion a 3-2 lead.
Before the inning was out, White would single in Coghill for an insurance run to secure a 4-2 win. Three Fusion pitchers (Moreno, Heutink & Affeldt) combined for 12 strikeouts in another quality showing by the Fusion pitching staff. Kate Dubois and Moreno with two hits each lead the Fusion offense.
The win over Victoria would set the stage for a third meeting with the top team from Manitoba to claim the national title.
Once again Manitoba would jump out to an early lead scoring three runs in the second inning. However, this time the locals were not going to be denied victory and responded by scoring four runs at the top of the third inning eventually knocking Manitoba鈥檚 starting pitcher out of the game.
Heutink lead off the inning with single and reached second on a fielder鈥檚 choice. Second baseman Dubois would single to put runners on the corners.
With two out Boles singled to score Heutink. Affeldt would follow this up with an in the park home run driving in three runs providing the Fusion with a 4-3 lead. From this point on the Fusion pitchers and defense were solid shutting down the Manitoba offense over the remaining five innings. Maya Moreno was the winning pitcher with Jessica Heutink pitching three innings in relief.
The week also featured Fusion team members receiving several individual awards.
Prior to the start of the Championship playoffs, the qualifying round All Star selections were announced. The Fusion squad would receive three of the 10 selections, the highest among all teams in attendance. Catcher Rachel Boles earned top batter honors with a .571 batting average/.600 on-base average. Also selected were teammates pitcher/shortstop, Cassidy Affeldt and center fielder Kayla White. Affeldt would eventually go on to be named MVP of the Championship playoff.
Team members are Cassidy Affeldt, Emily Bancroft , Abby Bates, Rachel Boles, Reilley Coghill, Kate Dubois, Chloe Follett, Jessica Heutink (黑马磁力), Anika Janzen, Siena Jones, Maya Moreno (黑马磁力), Shianne Schill, and Kayla White (黑马磁力). Head coach is David Quon (黑马磁力), with assistant coaches, Laurie-May Quon (黑马磁力), and Stacy Fournier.
