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Southeast SuperNovas U16 girls win silver at Western Canadian Championships

The U16B Girls Southeast SuperNovas based out of Carlyle had quite the achievement over the August long weekend.
SuperNovas
The SE SuperNovas 16U girls with their Western Canadian Championship silver medals and plaques.

The U16B Girls Southeast SuperNovas based out of Carlyle had quite the achievement over the August long weekend.  The team, which won provincial bronze in early July and thus qualified for the U16 Western Canadian Softball Championships, continued their successful season by winning the silver medal at Westerns.

         The championships were held in Biggar, Saskatchewan, from August 2ndto 5th.  It featured teams from Prince George and Nanaimo B.C, Edmonton and Lloydminster Alberta, Brandon and Stonewall Manitoba, along with 3 teams from Saskatchewan.  The host Biggar Nationals, the Tisdale River Dogs, and the Southeast SuperNovas.

         The Southeast SuperNovas are composed of girls from around the southeast corner of Saskatchewan.  They include Madison Mansfield from Wawota, Katelyn Desjarlais from White Bear, Kiera Rutten from Alameda, Kayzee Ferber from Lampman, Mya Waloshin and Tiana Seeman from Estevan, along with Trystan Barta, Kyla Fisher, Taris Rae, Kendra Schultz, and Erica Wilson all from Carlyle.  The team also picked up a couple of girls from the Unity Panthers for their Westerns run this year.  Makayla Bakken and Hunter Pewapsconias.  Coaches are Larrie Rae and Autumn Barta of Carlyle and Carri-lee Rutten of Alameda.  The manager is Steve Schultz.

         The Novas got their first taste of Westerns in 2017 when as the Provincial Silver Medalists in 14U girls they represented Saskatchewan in North Battleford.  They ended up 4thout of 9 teams in that tournament.  Then last year, again as Provincial Silver Medalists in 16U, they again carried the Saskatchewan banner at Westerns.  This time in Kelowna, British Columbia.  Once again, they ended up 4thout of 9 teams.  In qualifying for a 3rdyear, the team was hungry to finally bring home a medal and their determination paid off.

Southeast went 4-2 in the round robin. 

         The Novas had a chance to finish 5-1 but lost in a slug fest to the Interlake Phillies (Stonewall) in the final game of the round robin going down 17-12.  That meant a 4thplace finish after the round robin, but good enough for a spot in the 3-4 game and a birth in the tournament playoffs.  That 3-4 game put them up against Interlake again and this time the Novas weren’t taking prisoners.  They got on the bats from the start, the pitching was spot on and they played outstanding defense.  The result had them mercy Interlake 12-2 in just 4 innings.

         This win moved them into a semifinal versus the Prince George Thunderbirds on Monday morning.  The Novas had managed to beat the T-birds early in the round robin and again they came out on fire.  Great pitching, timely hits and top-notch defensive play saw them win 6-2 after a regulation 7 inning game.  Prince George won bronze and the Novas moved on to the final versus the Westman Magic (Brandon).

         Unfortunately for Southeast, that’s where the mojo went away and Westman handed the SuperNovas a 9-1 loss.  The girls tried hard but just couldn’t find rhythm against a tough Manitoba pitcher.  The resulting loss however still meant the Novas had won silver and the team, coaches and fans were over the moon with their success. 

         To dominate teams from cities and big towns with thousands of more people and thus much larger pools to pick players from was quite a big deal to this team and shows not only the talent of our local ball players but just how hard they work to get there.  In fact, the gold medal final was only the Novas 23rdgame of the season as a team.  Prince George for example, plays in excess of 90 games a year.  It should also be noted that all the other provinces send “A “teams to Westerns while Saskatchewan sends “B” teams and sends “A” to nationals.  A true testament to the caliber of ball being played in small town Saskatchewan. 

                  Of course, none of the success comes this year without the support the team gets.  They want people to know how much they appreciate the support of generous local sponsors along with family, friends and our great communities.