Sabres in search of elusive fastball crown
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This article was published 29/05/2019 (1793 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
They’ve knocked on the door several times in recent years, come in as the first or second seed on occasion, but have never been able to come home with what has been an elusive Provincial High School Girls’ Fastpitch Championship.
The SRSS Sabres will give it another try this coming weekend in Russell as they represent Zone 13 at the provincial championships on Friday and Saturday.
This year they come in as the fourth seed, and perhaps that’s a good thing as higher seedings in the past ultimately have not paid off for them at the end.
SRSS comes into the provincials with a strong record in tournament and zone play, having compiled a superb 11-1 record along the way.
Their only loss came at the Garden Valley tournament in Winkler, a 5-2 setback to the host Zodiaks. Garden Valley comes in as the top seed at this year’s provincials, followed by Stonewall, Neepawa and then the SRSS.
Sabres head coach Lawney Penner says although they are the fourth seed this year, he feels they have as good a chance as in some of the past years to the win the championship. He points out that when they played in the Winkler tournament and lost to Garden Valley, they were missing four of their starters that weekend.
Penner says although Garden Valley is the top seed, he feels second-ranked Stonewall could be more of a challenge. “This year, unlike in some past years, there is no one dominant team, I think there could be 5 or 6 teams that might have a chance at winning this year.”
The Sabres rolled through the Zone 13 tournament last week at Landmark without a blemish, eventually crushing Lorette in the final. The Scorpions had upset Landmark 13-9 in the semis to advance to the final against the powerhouse Sabres.
At this weekend’s provincial championships the Sabres are in a pool with the fifth ranked Major Pratt Trojans from Russell and 12th ranked Mikisew. The Sabres edged Major Pratt by a 4-3 score in their only previous meeting of the season, which came at the Garden Valley tournament.
SRSS will open the tournament Friday at noon vs. Mikisew and then will immediately take to the field again for a 1:30 p.m. clash against Major Pratt.
Top two teams in each pool qualify for the playoffs. The championship final will be Saturday at 3:15 p.m.