Eastman Wildcats earn berths to national tournaments

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This article was published 28/07/2022 (1071 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Eastman Wildcats season may be ending their season lacking a provincial championship banner, but teams from the region will still be heading to softball nationals to represent the province.

The U15 squad looked poised to add another tournament win to their trophy case in La Salle July 24. The Wildcats were 8-0 heading into the final against the Eastman Magic, fresh off defeating the Magic in the page playoff game earlier that morning.

It looked good early, when Pascale Kihn launched a two-run home run to give the Wildcats an early lead. But those would be the only runs Eastman could generate, eventually falling 5-2.

The Wildcats will still be heading to the U15 National Championship, as the second Manitoba team. During the regular season, the Wildcats racked up an incredible 23-2-1 record and a plus-183 run differential. The national championships will be hosted in Saskatoon from Aug. 3-7.

The U17 Wildcats will also be heading to a higher tier tournament. The Eastman squad will be representing Manitoba at the Western Canadian Championships in Edmonton, the same dates at the U15 team.

The U17 team had a tough provincials last week at their home diamond in Friedensfeld, unable to make the playoffs after finishing the regular season with the best record in the league.

In other provincial action, the U13 Wildcats didn’t come away from Brandon empty-handed. The team won a bronze medal, defeating the Manitoba Angels 10-4 in the third vs fourth playoff game. Eastman made the playoffs after racking up a 5-2 record in round robin play.

The U13 Eastman squad couldn’t continue to roll, losing to the eventual champion Central Energy 6-2. Their third place finish at provincials was identical to their finish during league play this year.