Delta '97 Heat girls fastpitch team more than held its own at a high-profile tournament in Oregon.
The Hillsboro event featured nearly 60 teams in the U16A Division with entries from California, Washington, Nevada, Hawaii, Idaho, Alaska and Oregon. The Heat represented Canada in impressive fashion, placing fifth overall.
After a slow start in a 5-2 opening loss to the Bellevue Blast, the girls rolled off four consecutive wins over Alaska (6-0), Hawaii (7-2), Idaho (6-4) and Washington (4-1) to reach the quarter-finals.
Facing their local arch rivals, White Rock Renegades, the Heat fell behind 5-1. In their final at bats with two outs, Sierra Sherritt launched a solo home run to centre field to spark some life on the bench and in the crowd. Two batters later, Montana Monk electrified the crowd hitting an over the fence home run, scoring Laura Baldry and cutting the deficit to one run. Unfortunately, a third home run was not in the cards and the Heat fell 5-4.
The team was led by strong pitching performances from Taylor Woodward, Kendra Ho and Monk. Behind the plate, Jordan Britten-Yung, Maria Palmegiani and Danielle Martyniuk all demonstrated their strong arms, allowing only a couple stolen bases all weekend. Infielders Lauren Watson (2B) and Shelby Cumiskey (3B) ate up any ground balls hit to them. In the outfield, Baldry and Sherritt both threw out players at home plate and Kirstynn DeCicco made a great over the shoulder catch. Offensively, Martyniuk and Monk led the team with their bats and lefties Woodward, Watson and Tia Lore gave the opposition fits with their blistering speed on the base paths.
