Two weeks after winning a provincial championship in Victoria, the Delta Heat ’97 just missed playing for a medal at the girls under-16 (Bantam) softball national championship tournament last week in O’Leary, Prince Edward Island.
The Heat went 2-1 (won-lost) to place second in their group and qualify for the playoff round. Their lone loss was a 3-2 decision to the first-place Mississauga Hurricanes. They won their other three games by a combined 33-0 aggregate.
Maria Palmegiani, first base, led the team in batting during the round robin with a .571 average that included two doubles and a triple. Shortstop Kendra Ho batted in a team-high six runs, with Tia Lore driving in four.
The first playoff game for the Heat was Saturday morning, and they needed just five innings to defeated the host Scotiabank Reds 14-0. Jesse Godard, who had 15 strikeouts in her lone round robin appearance, fanned another eight while pitching the first three innings. Lindsay Blattman pitched the final two frames and had five strikeouts.
Palmegiani was a perfect three-for-three with two runs scored and one batted in. Lore, Shelby Cumiskey and Sierra Sherritt each had a pair of hits, with Sherritt collecting three RBIs.
The Heat then lost 4-0 to the Calgary Kaizen in the afternoon, despite having five hits to Calgary’s four. Godard added another 11 strikeouts to her total.
Delta’s tournament came to an end with a 10-3 loss to the Quebec Rebelles Saturday night. Quebec led 3-0 after three innings, before Palmegiani hit a three-run home run to tie the game.
The Rebelles scored the winning run in the fifth inning, then put up six runs in the sixth to end the game on the mercy rule.