By Joel van der Veen
SASKATOON — Two local minor softball teams competed in city playoffs in Saskatoon last weekend, facing tough challengers and coping with game cancellations on account of rain.
In addition to the local teams, several players from Davidson and district competed with other teams, including the Conquest Coyotes, who won gold in the Bantam B division, and the Twin City Angels, who took silver in the Bantam A division.
The Saskatoon Minor Softball League held its championship from Friday, June 19 to Sunday, June 21, but Saturday’s games were cancelled due to rain.
This complicated matters for the Davidson peewee girls team, who played in the B division and defeated the Twin City Angels 13-12 on Friday night.
Saturday’s games were cancelled, said coach Kendall Wightman, and “Sunday morning, they had scaled it down to a single knockout format.”
The team faced the Electric Lasers that morning; that game began as a tight match, with neither team scoring in the first two innings, but ended with a 10-3 loss for Davidson.
“They held them off for the first couple of innings,” said Wightman. “They battled hard, but they couldn’t quite hold out long enough.”
That single loss was the end of the line for the team; they finished third in their division, but with only 11 players they won’t be competing in provincials.
Wightman said he was pleased with the progress made this season. He said the girls learned lots and played well as a team.
The Davidson squirt girls team also competed in Saskatoon over the weekend. Like the peewees, they only played two games due to rain.
Coach Richelle Palmer reported that the team lost one game and won one game, both against Hustlers teams.
Conquest Coyotes
Emily Read of Davidson and Jenna Sincennes of Kenaston were part of the roster on the Conquest Coyotes bantam girls team, which took gold in the Bantam B playoffs.
Their schedule was also affected by the rain, which forced officials to move from a double knockout format to a single knockout format.
On Sunday the team played the Raiders black team, defeating the fourth-place team 7-5.
Later that day they played the Lasers. Both teams were held scoreless for the first two innings, after which they played several tight innings with the lead going back and forth.
The Coyotes were down by one run at the bottom of the sixth. Both teams failed to score in the sixth; Conquest then scored two runs in the seventh inning to take the lead and the victory at 6-5.
Read’s mother, Leanne, described the match as “a very exciting and tense game.”
The Conquest team also includes players from Delisle, Dinsmore, Outlook and Beechy.
Twin City Angels
The Twin City Angels, part of the Warman Minor Softball Association, took silver in the Bantam A playoffs in Saskatoon.
The team also featured some local talent — namely, Miranda Farrell of Davidson and Ann Ulmer of Kenaston.