Langley Xtreme 03 won gold at the Softball U16B BC Provincial games with a gritty, come-by-behind win.
Hosted by the Delta Fastpitch Association (DFA) July 12 - 14th, at North Delta Community and Brandrith Parks, the event featured 16 of the top teams from around BC competing for the coveted Provincial title.
Battling with a number of injuries throughout the 2019 season, the Xtreme 03 team fought through nine games in a series of round robin, semi-final, and final games.
Xtreme defeated the Coquitlam Classics, CVI Rage, Kelowna Heat, and Ridge Meadow Rage in the round-robin.
This placed Xtreme 03 in the gold pool which was a double knockout format.
READ MORE: Langley Xtreme 03 win silver in the Lower Mainland Cup
The playoffs began on Saturday (July 13th), where Xtreme 03 faced Abbotsford Outlaws 03.
Xtreme 03 down 3-0 at the top of the sixth but battled back and earned four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead of 4-3 going into the seventh inning and shut down the outlaws for Xtreme 03’s first playoff win.
During the second playoff game on Sunday, the Langley Xtreme 03 took home a 4-3 victory over Langford Lightening.
Game three was against the top seed, Prince George Thunderbirds 03, where the Xtreme team lost their first game in these provincials with a mercy loss of 10-0.
The fourth playoff game was against the Delta Invaders 03 where the Xtreme team was down 4-3 until the bottom of the seventh inning, the Xtreme team battled back and won the game 5-4.
That put the Langley Xtreme 03 team back into the gold/silver game and a repeat match against the top seed Prince George Thunderbirds 03.
This time, it ended differently.
Thunderbirds took an early lead of 2-0 in the second inning, but the Xtreme 03 answered back, taking the lead of 3-2 in the third inning.
Xtreme 03 team then added on to their lead with another 2 runs with a score of 5-2 and then shutdown the Thunderbirds to win gold.
Head Coach Charles Dickens said he was “in awe of these young women.”
“I’ve seen them fight through injuries, pain and adversity, yet they’ve continued to persevere,” Dickens said.
“The life lesson they will take away from this year is knowing the payoff from determination, tenacity and focus….a life lesson that will serve them well”.
Going into the provincial games, the team was down to 10 players and chose not to use any pickup players, Coach Murray Sing. explained.
“We wanted to go with the original girls that had gotten us this far” Sing elaborated.
“Our girls really played for each other and they had each other’s backs all tournament long” explained Sing.
The final standings of the 2019 U16B Provincial games were Langley Xtreme 03 winning gold , Prince George Thunderbirds silver; and Delta Invaders with the bronze medal.
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