Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Napanee’s U14 Novice Express girls will look to continue two of Softball Napanee’s summer trends this weekend-being a good host and qualifying for major events.
They’ll have the chance to do both as the Napanee Fairgrounds will be the site of the Provincial Women’s Softball Association’s U14 II Qualifier C, which begins Friday and runs through Sunday.
Napanee will be one of 10 teams taking part, looking for at least a top four finish to advance to the ‘A’ Provincial Championship, which will be held Aug. 9-11 in Stratford. Teams that finish fifth through eighth will head to the ‘B’ Provincials while ninth and 10th will be relegated to the ‘C’ Championship. Both the B and C pool will play Aug. 9-11 in Cambridge.
To help prepare for this weekend’s double-knock out tournament, the Express took part in a tournament in Montreal earlier this month. Though wins were tough to come by, the experience was a valuable one.
“The age groups are slightly different in Quebec,” said Express head coach Kurtis Jackson. “It’s actually 14 and under, whereas Ontario it’s under 14. We were playing against girls at least a year older. It was a difficult tournament but the girls stepped up, never gave up and actually had a good showing for the quality of teams that they were playing.”
Jackson said he registered the team for the Montreal tournament knowing they’d be up against tough competition in an effort to get them ready for the top teams their own age in Ontario.
“We didn’t necessarily have a typical tournament schedule this year,” said Jackson. “I used that as an opportunity to gain a bit more ground in one tournament.”
In league play, facing boys teams out of Kingston, the Express have gone undefeated. They’ll look to continue that roll when they face a handful of novice girls teams they’ve yet to see this year.
Much of the host team have been playing together since the U8 and U10 level, a familiarity that could be an asset this weekend.
Representing the home team will be Jaidyn Manion, Elayna Jackson, Jordyn Watson, Kristen Sutton, Lila Pringle, Maeve Kennedy, Marlee Maracle, Meena Peterson, Emma Hagerman and Hannah Tulloch.
Manion and Sutton will share pitching duties throughout the tournament.
Forced to play the vast majority of their games on the road in Kingston, this weekend’s tournament in Napanee will offer a rare chance to play on their home diamonds.
“It’ll be good competition,” said Jackson. “It’ll be good for family and friends to see the girls in action against equal skill level.”
A large crowd and high intensity games will also help prepare them for provincials, where they’ll play in similar conditions.
Rounding out the field in the qualifying tournament will be the Vaughan Vikings, Mississauga Southwest Hurricanes, Saugeen Shores Sting, Mississauga North Tigers, Corunna Lady Giants, Stittsville ‘56ers, Barrie Storm, Palmerston Marlins and Exeter Extremes.
The Express open the tournament against the Lady Giants on Friday at 6 p.m. The winner of that game faces the marlins on Saturday at 9 a.m. The loser plays at 11 a.m.
A full tournament schedule can be found at SoftballNapanee.com.