LORILEE McKELVIE,
Special to The Standard
SCUGOG: July 8th, 9th, and 10th marked the 3rd annual PanJam tournament for the Port Perry Angels U13 RED team. Hosted by the Central East Women’s Fastpitch League, the Angels headed to Ajax for the weekend. With eight teams in the U13 division, split into two pools, each team was guaranteed five games, starting with round-robin play.
The Angels took on the Milton Bats Purple team, Friday night, at the Ajax Sportsplex. The Angels held onto their lead, with strong pitching and tight defence, and won 7-6, through five innings.
Saturday morning was an early start, at Country Lane Park, meeting up with the Oshawa Lady B’s at 8 a.m. With only four innings played, in the hour-twenty time limit, the Angels defeated the Lady B’s 5-2.
Up next was the Vaughan Vikings Junior team. The Angels were shut out through two innings, but their bats came alive in the third, fourth, and fifth innings, scoring eight runs. The defence was on their game, with some nice snags, and held Vaughan to four runs winning 8-4.
The last game of the day on Saturday was against the Whitby Eagles. After being shut out in the first inning, the Angels fought back, scoring five runs in the second, to tie up the game. The Eagles scored two more runs in the second and, with tight defence, kept the Angels off the scoreboard. Then, plays made on both sides, kept the third inning scoreless. With time running out, as the Angels were on a comeback, drop-dead time was called, and the score was reverted back to the third inning, giving the Angels their first loss.
Through four games of round-robin play, the Angels placed first in their pool and headed into the playoffs, at 8 a.m., Sunday morning. Taking on the fourth place Cobourg Angels, the Port Perry bats were on fire through four innings, and with strong pitching, the PPA RED team defeated Cobourg 19-0.
The Angels were up against the Whitby Eagles again, heading into the semi-finals. After yesterday’s loss, the Angels wanted redemption. Scoring 13 runs, through four innings, and making some key plays, the Angels won 13-2 and were headed to the gold medal game.
After three silver medals in their last three tournaments, the Angels were hungry for the gold. They had to bring their A-game to take on the Corunna Lady Giants, who placed first in their pool. The Lady Giants came out swinging, scoring two runs, but with a beauty caught at second which turned into a double play at first, the Angels shut down their offence. The Angels answered back hard with four singles and two home runs, scoring five to end the first inning. The Lady Giants added one run in the second inning, while shutting down the Angels, closing the gap 5-3. With a nice catch in right field, thrown in to first for another double play, the Angels shut down the Lady Giants in the third. And with three solid hits, the Angels added two runs to their lead. The Lady Giants clawed back, scoring one run in the fourth, and kept the Angels off the scoreboard, inching back 7-4.
In the fifth inning, with the Lady Giants in scoring position and down three runs, they attempted to steal home on a wild pitch. They were caught stealing by the diving catcher, who made the play at home. With some excellent pitching and a few more great plays, the Angels secured their GOLD medal win, defeating the Corunna Lady Giants 7-4. Congratulations Angels!
A special shout out to #5 Erica, who was not able to join the Angels this weekend; this gold medal is for you. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
And a huge THANK YOU to coaches Wendy, Pippa, Josh, Alyssa, and Erin for your time, leadership, and enthusiasm.