U14 Thunder run the table en route to provincial gold at home

“It’s everything for us,” said Thunder infielder Maia Petersen. “All the energy we’ve put into this team, we’ve bonded so much and we mean everything to each other. I couldn’t imagine winning this with anyone else because all these girls are like my family by this point and we’re so happy that we finally got to show everyone what we can do.”

Medicine Hat and Lloydminster went toe-to-toe for much of Sunday’s championship game, with the Thunder taking a slim 8-6 lead into the seventh and final inning.

That’s when the floodgates opened up for the home side, as it seemed every Thunder batter that went up to the plate was able to bring a teammate home.

Six runs later and the Liners elected to call the game, giving Medicine Hat the gold medal.

“I swear we were saving all of our hits for this final game and it was just insane,” said Thunder pitcher Adriene Campbell. “We were all up on our feet, so excited.”

The U14 girls went a perfect 6-0 over the course of the three-day tournament, beginning with a 7-2 victory over the Strathmore Thunder.

Campbell said that early morning contest on Friday set the tone for the rest of the tournament.

“We were really nervous about our first game, but we came out and won it with a bang,” said Campbell. So, that one set us forward to win all our next games. To go undefeated, that’s just a huge win overall.”

Sunday’s win was vindication for the Thunder after falling in Girls Prairie League playoffs, dropping a semi-final matchup against Calgary and eventually settling for a bronze medal.

Going 10-3 in the regular season, head coach Chris Grad knew the potential the team had and was thrilled to see the work pay off.

“We wanted redemption,” said Grad. “We knew we could win and we practised hard, we kept our skills sharp and we wanted this.”

Making the gold medal even sweeter was the road to the provincial title, with COVID-19 derailing much of last year for the Medicine Hat Softball Association.

“We wanted redemption,” said Grad. “We knew we could win and we practised hard, we kept our skills sharp and we wanted this.”

Provincial restrictions made it almost impossible to host teams from other communities, essentially forcing elite players in our city to play entirely exhibition games against other Medicine Hat players.

“Without that for a year and half, it was so nerve-wracking coming back because we didn’t know that we still had what we had before we went into COVID,” said Petersen. “But, obviously we do.”

Grad is hoping this win will help encourage more local girls to stay within the local sports community, especially since a recent study by Canadian Women & Sport found one in four girls won’t be returning to sport following the pandemic.

“It’s such a tough time in their lives as far as how old they are, social media and bullying,’ said Grad. “Keeping them in sport is so important.”

Seeing the Medicine Hat crowd explode at the end of the championship game is something that Petersen will never forget, wanting to soak in the moment as much as possible.

“Such a big part of having it at home is having everyone here,” said Petersen. “Having it at home means that we get to show not only our coaches, not only our team, but everybody who ever cares about softball in the littlest bit that we got this and we can pull through anything.”

With success coming at several different levels for the Thunder softball program, Grad is optimistic that Medicine Hat’s reputation around the province is becoming even more well known.

“People are knowing Medicine Hat plays softball now,” said Grad. “I think we can just keep continuing to get better and keep working, these girls have a taste of it now and they’re not going to want to give it up.”

by Scott Roblin

U14 Thunder run the table en route to provincial gold at home

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