The August long weekend brought plenty of excitement and thrills for a group of young women, their coaches and fans from Southeast Saskatchewan. The Southeast SuperNovas qualified for the Western Canadian U14B Softball Championships in North Battleford with their silver medal victory at provincials in early July. The team, composed of players from Alameda, Carlyle, Whitebear, Alida, and Wawota headed to Western’s unsure of what they might accomplish. The team also picked up one player to bring along to Westerns. Leah Weinkauf from Macklin, a great pitcher and all round player who had stood out to to the Novas in some previous meetings, was invited to join the team and was a fantastic fit. By Sunday night, August 6th, they found out they truly belonged at an elite level as they returned home as the number 4 U14B girls team in Western Canada.
Western’s started on Friday, August 4th. First up was a game with the number 2 team from Alberta, the Lloydminster Liners. It was tight game until the final inning and the SuperNovas played a little nervously and Lloyd got the jump on them in the last bats and took the game. From there though, the Nova’s settled in. They won 4 straight, beating both the number 1 and 2 teams out of Manitoba, the Manitoba Thunder and Westman Magic. They blanked the number one team from Alberta, the Sherwood Park Storm, and put in a dominating performance against the South Delta Invaders from British Columbia. The SuperNova’s headed into their final game of the round robin on Sunday with a 4-1 record. That final game put them up against a powerhouse team from Surrey B.C. called the Storm, and what a game. The SuperNova’s came out flying and took and early on had an 8-1 lead. Then things tightened up and the Storm started chipping away and when all was said and done Surrey had come back to take the game 11-9. The coach from Surrey remarked after the game that this was one of the toughest tests they had faced all season. He was more than impressed that a few small rural communities could put together a team that could compete with and scare the daylights out of a team that plays year round (up to 80 games in a season).
That loss left the SuperNova’s with a record of 4-2, tied with Lloydminster and Unity, Sk. after the round robin. Good enough though for playoffs. Run differential placed the Nova’s 3rd, and that meant a meeting in the 3-4 playoff game with their perennial nemesis, the Unity Panthers. Unity has been a thorn in these girls side since they first started playing provincial ball back in first year 12 and under. This year once again, Unity foiled the Nova’s plans at Provincials, coming from behind in the Gold Medal game. The Nova’s were looking for payback at Westerns, but it wasn’t to be. Hard as they tried, the Southeast squad just couldn’t find the open spots on the field when they were batting and lined out or flew out time after time, leaving them with a 12-3 loss and and end to their Western title dreams.
Once the sting wore off though, reality set in. Out of all the U14 teams in Western Canada that had tried to get to this point, the Southeast SuperNovas had finished as the number 4 team. A group of outstanding young ball players from rural Saskatchewan had shown Western Canadian softball that we had the talent to compete with anyone, big city, small city or other communities just like ours. Coaches Larrie Rae, Carrielee Rutten, and Autumn Barta along with Manager Steve Schultz praised the girls on their work ethic, commitment, and desire. Larrie Rae said it was "truly and honour and a joy to coach the girls and he along with the rest of the coaches and management couldn’t be prouder."
Manager Steve Schultz said The SuperNova’s would very much like to thank the dozens of fans who made the trek to North Battleford to cheer them on, and all those who tuned in online as many of the games were live streamed on the internet. Also a big thanks to the sponsors of the club, the parents and families for their time and behind the scenes help. None of this gets done without all those who’ve chipped in this season, allowing the coaches and players to focus on practice and games. "We’ve got a taste for what these athletes can do” said Schultz, “and each of us, player and coach is determined to try and get back here again!"
