Two 黑马磁力 teams punched their tickets to the U20C provincial championships during the District 8 playdowns held June 13-15 at Exhibition Park in Abbotsford.
Flames and Red Sox are going to Vernon after finishing second and third, respectively.
For Brian Kaps, head coach of the silver medal-winning Flames, the Abbotsford event was a redemption tour of sorts.
"Beginning of the season, we lost to most of these teams, and the last half of the season, we've been beating them," Kaps explained.
"We've pretty much beaten every team, except for the Abbotsford Tsunami who we lost to in the [District] final on Saturday. They're the only ones that we haven't beat yet, but hopefully [in Vernon] we'll do it."
Flames associate coach Grant Cosens, who originated the "redemption tour" phrase said filling the roster was a challenge in the early part of the season.
"U20s, which we play in, a lot of [players] are in university or schooling up until probably the end of April, and our league starts at the beginning of April," Cosens explained. "So, to start the year where we were with lack of players, always having to look for pickup players to come play with us, we've come a long way.'
Bronze-winning Red Sox head coach Karen SItter said the team was "plugging along."
"The kids are great," Sitter summarized.
"There were four teams [at the district event]. We won our first game, then we lost our second game, and then we lost in the semifinals to come third."
U20C Women's Softball Provincials will be held in Vernon July 4-6, hosted by Vernon Minor Fastball.
