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Burnaby girls head to nationals
Mia Thomas, staff reporter
There's pressure, but the Burnaby players heading to the bantam A girls fastpitch national championships thrive under pressure.
"There's pressure on our girls all the time," said Barbara Shannik, who's in charge of publicity for the Surrey Storm 90 A team that the three local girls play for.
"I think they just know that they have to do what they do all the time, to keep producing."
Shannik noted that the team, which includes the Burnaby trio of Kelsey Haberl, Brittany Riberio and Lauren Shannik, had an exceptional record of 75 wins, a handful of ties and only three losses through the season.
"They're basically a very regimented team. They know they can do it, even when they're behind, which they rarely are. They are a team that doesn't give up."
That 'never-say-die' attitude was on display at the bantam provincial girls' fastpitch championships, held in Victoria from July 21 to 23.
The tournament started with a round robin, only the top six teams of 14 advancing to the playoffs.
In their first game, the Storm 90 - the '90' refers to the year all the players, now in their second year in bantam, were born - lost to Delta Heat 90 3-0 in an extra inning.
The Storm 90 stayed true after that, though, defeating the PoCo Ravens 14-0, Delta Heat 91 6-0 and the Burnaby Oakeys 91 6-3.
"We were given the fourth spot due to our win-loss record," Shannik explained.
The Storm's first playoff game was against Delta Heat 90, who had placed fifth in the round robin. The Saturday afternoon game went for three hours, and this time the Storm won, 10-5.
Coming out of the round robin, the White Rock Renegades 91 had been in first place, but they couldn't hold off the determined Storm.
Lauren Shannik had scored the first run in the second inning and, although White Rock tied the game in the fifth, the Storm replied with three more runs, ending the game at 4-1.
They were now guaranteed at least a third-place finish and a trip to the nationals.
The host team, Victoria Island Devils 90, had been undefeated in the round robin but they lost 6-1 to the Storm in the semifinal, with great hitting from both Haberl and Ribeiro.
The Island Devils beat the Delta Heat 90 to face the Storm again in the finals.
Storm led the way early in the game, but the Devils never let up on the pressure. However, although it got tense in the seventh inning, with two Victoria runners on base before the Storm got their third out, the local team ended up winning 2-0 and taking the B.C. title.
The Storm, along with the Victoria Island Devils and the Delta Heat 90, are heading to St. Catharines, Ont. for the bantam A girls' fastpitch nationals, which will be held from Aug. 16 to 20.
The Burnaby Oakeys 91, the first-year bantam team, had two wins and two losses in their round robin for sixth place and did well to advance to the playoffs against older teams.
mthomas@burnabynow.com
published on 07/29/2006
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