Dirt In My Eye....

Two weekends ago we were in Napanee for A-mac's Provincial Champioships. This past weekend we were in Brampton for Lil Lefty's Provincial Championship Tournament. Lil Lefty started practicing with her team of 9 -10 year old girls 11 months ago. The Ontaio Provincial Softball Association (PWSA) holds their championship tournaments for all age groups at the end of the year. According to their website the PWSA has been promoting female softball in Ontario since 1931.

The Angels were scheduled to play Friday night at 8:30pm. Rain pushed the start time back to 9:45pm with a hard stop at 10:55pm because the lights must be shut off. Games must be finished in an hour and three quarters. It was strange to me that they would even start a game between girls this late knowing they couldn't finish. Lil lefty pitched very well Friday night not allowing a hit and striking out 14 in 5 innings. After not getting to sleep until midnight she had to be up early the next morning to complete the game. She allowed two hits in the morning completion but was able to strike out the last batter with the tieing run on third. Her effort earned her the game MVP and an autographed softball from the Canadian Women's softball team.

They continued play in their double elimination tournament. Lil Lefty played third and scored 3 times in her next game. She was hot at the plate...

Lil lefty pitched the next game (same day) and was ruffed up for a loss against seaon long arch-rivals. By getting to this game the Angels had earned a Bronze medal in the tournament.

Lil lefty does not like to loose.

On Sunday morning we had a "cleat malfunction" that caused me, Big D, to set the land speed record from our home to the field (an hour drive). The Angels won advancing to the Gold Medal game. Lil lefty started the game catching. Lil lefty pitched the last two innings striking out all she faced... had a home run and triple at the plate... in a 9 -5 victory.

Our team made it to the gold medal game. Becuase the tournament was a double elimination the Angels had to win two games for a gold medal. The team they played was the host team of the tournament and the crowd was tough. Lil Lefty pitched the gold medal game. She had great stuff... but the other team had live bats and was able to beat our hero (Lil Lefty) and the Angels. Lil Lefty was tough on the mound... overwhelmed at times... threw the hardest I have evr seen her throw... was a bulldog... showed amazing heart... is 9 years old... and as you can see from the picture to the left would have rather won the gold than the silver medal...

I am a believer in setting goals and after the first few tournaments Lil Lefty and I talked about her earning the "Top Pitcher" honor in the Provincial tournament.

After the team medals were awarded they began the individual award presentation. First they awarded the Top Batter. I had been keeping my own stats for most of the tournament scribbled on a notecard. They announce the Top Batter stats and they sounded very close to Lil Lefty's... but it was not her (I actually thought she scored more runs)... they then read off the stats for the Top Pitcher and the stats sounded very close to Lil Lefty's but the name was not hers (I thought she had more strike outs)... Then the read the stats for the "MVP" of the Tournament... and announed that it was Lil Lefty (They actually used her real name :-) )

Lil lefty earned the MVP of the Ontario Provincial Women's Softball Association championship tournament. She received a congratulation letter, an embroidered "PWSA MVP" hoodie and an invitation to the awards banquet in October.

I was very fortunate that I had my sunglasses on... otherwise I would have had to explain that at that moment I got some dirt in my eyes...

A friend of ours explained to me that I should expect to have a lot of dirt in my eyes over the next several years...