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2002 National Championships
What an experience for our team. We finished the round robin portion of the Nationals with a 2-3 record. Unfortunately in our grouping it was not enough to advance to the playoff round. With two tight one loss games it was apparent that we belonged and can compete at the highest level of fast pitch at our age level. We won our first consolation game but lost in the finals with another one run decision. We'll get them next year.
2002 Provincials
With a fairly tough draw we'd have to beat at least one strong 88 team to advance to the playoff round.
We handily beat the Langley88 team in our first game with strong pitching from Virginia and notably a triple by Steffie. Stephanie took the mound for our second game against a strong Renegades88 team. The Renegades started the scoring in the first inning but we kept them off the board after that with strong defense and great pitching by Stephanie. The tying run came in the 3rd inning. Kelsey led off with a single and scored on Stefanis single to right field. Renegades scored another run in the 4th inning. With time running out we needed another run to avoid the loss. Amanda led off the sixth inning with a single and Virginia drove Amanda home to tie the game. Michelle made a great double play to hold them down in their half of the inning to keep the game tied. Time ran out and we were advised a tie game would give us a single point in round robin play, only to be advised later that all ties must be broken and we'd have to play out the game at the end of round robin competition.
The next game against the Heat88 was crucial to advance to the playoffs. Virginia received the call to the mound and pitched one of her best games of the season, only allowing 4 hits, to earn a shutout. Our offense came alive with three hits by Marissa and a triple scoring two runs by Christal to give us 4 runs, more than enough to win the game.
Jenn pitched our next playoff game against the Storm89. 9 strikeouts in 4 innings helped us to an easy 12-1 Victory. Caitlin led the offense with two doubles and a single. With two games played already we then had to face completing the previous tie against the Renegades. We started with the same batting order in the 7th inning. Stephanie again at the mound was up to the task. The 10th inning looked scary with runners on 2nd and third with 1 out but Stephanie struck out the next batter while Michelle caught a fly to end the inning. Finally at the top half of the 11th inning Virginia singled to start. With two outs and two strikes on her, Christal drove in the go-ahead run. Steph struck out two and a fly to Jenn Bourne ended the game with a 3-2 win.
We weren't finished for the evening we still had two playoff games to complete. We then faced the Abbotsford Attitude in our first playoff game. Our offense started early in this game with Stefani walking, Amanda getting a single then Viriginia driving in both with a huge triple. Both Steffie and Christal got on base and Carly drove home Stef to start the game with a 4-0 lead. Virigia only allowed two runs in the game with the final score 5-2. Our next playoff game and our fifth game of the day started immediately. Jenn pitched great but we weren't able to get any runners across the plate and suffered our first loss of the Provincials.
Up against the Renegades 88 the first thing Sunday morning was crucial, lose and we're out, win and we're guaranteed a spot to Nationals. As with our earlier game against the Renegades, it became a pitching battle. There was no scoring until the 5th inning when Renegades scored a run. Time was running out as we entered the 6th inning down 1 run. Jenn remedied that with an in the park home run to tie the game. We held them in the bottom of the sixth. Steph Ta started the inning with a lead off single. With two outs Virginia hit a line drive triple down the first base line to score Stephanie and take the lead for the first time. Jenn Bourne doubled to give us a two run cusion lead heading in the bottom of the 7th. Still puffing from her triple, Virginia struck out all three batters to win the game.
Our next playoff game started immediately, with no rest we ran out of gas in the last game. We lost the bronze medal game to the Heat 89 for only our second loss of the Provincials.
PeeWee Provincials 2001
With a fairly tough draw for the Provincials we knew we'd probably need 3 out of 4 wins in the round-robin to advance to the play-off round.
First up Langley Rebels 88. It was a hard fought tight game. We were behind 2-1 going into the 7th inning. We scored the game tying run with Viriginia's triple and scoring on a passed ball. They had a chance to finish us off in their half of the final inning with bases loaded and one out. We held them scoreless which put the game into extra-innings. It took another two innings but we finally scored a run with Virginia getting a walk and Marissa hitting in the game winning run. They didn't make it easy for us in the bottom of the 9th but Stephanie at catcher make two great throws to pick off two runners on second base to hold them scoreless and win the game.
Our second game was against the Renegades 87 team. It was a tight game but we lost a close one 7-6.
Our third game we came up against the Islanders 87 . Another very close game. We went ahead in the top of the 7th to make the game 6-5. The Islanders 87 had some timely hits and come alive to score 7 runs in the 7th inning to win the game.
With a 1-2 record it would be near impossible to make the play-off round. However, we finished with a strong win against Poco Ravens 9-3. It was a great way to end a tough but hard fought season. Unfortunately our 2-2 record wasn't enough to advance to the playoffs.
Islanders Finish 2nd in Delta Tournament
After a 4th place finish in the Poco Tournament we put it all together for a Silver Medal in the Delta Tournament.
We opened against the Renegades 87 with a very close 3-2 loss. However, the players didn't give up and beat two 88 teams on Saturday (Poco Ravens 7-0, and Heat 88 9-2). With a 2-1 record and a great plus/minus ratio a win over the Vancouver Wildcats 87 would clinch 2nd place in the Round robin and a bye to the final round of four. An early start didn't detour the girls as they played scoreless to the 4th inning. The Wildcats rallied for 4 runs in the 4th but we matched then in our half of the fourth to tie the game. We shut them down in the 5th inning and scored the run we needed to win the game. We were out for revenge against the Renegades 87 who'd beaten us in the opening round robin game by one run. A close 4-3 win put us into the Finals against Heat 87. Strong hitting and great pitching beat us in the final game as we suffered only our second loss of the tournament. This was a team collaboration with each player contributing to the success of the tournament. Congratulations Islanders 88 you gave all of us a great weekend of ball!
Highlights of the 2000 season
After a slow start in tournament play The Islanders 88 received a Silver Medal in the Ladner Tournament. All games were hard earned and well played.
Monroe Washington was the first "road trip" for this second year team. It was a good learning experience but mostly it was GREAT FUN!
Our year was topped off by another road trip, this time to Port Alberni for the Provincial Championships. With a difficult draw each game was important to advance to the medal round. Go to the pics and history pages to find the details of our Bronze medal.
Results of Provincial Squirt Championships 2000
Round Robin Games Results
Game 1
Islanders 7
Renegades(#2) 3
Game 2
Islanders 5
Ridge Meadows 2
Game 3
Islanders 4
Delta Heat 5
Game 4
Islanders 6
Renegades(#1) 4
Islanders 88A finished 4th in the Round Robin
Playoff Round
Game1
Islanders 0
Delta Heat 6
Game 2
Islanders 4
Islanders 89A 1
Game 3
Islanders 6
PoCo Ravens 4
Game 4
Islanders 3
Surrey Storm 7
Islanders 88A win the Bronze Medal!
Eteamz Spotlight Site Winner
 The Islanders88A website has been chosen as the February Spotlight Winner for Softball! Click here to check out the Spotlight Sites section on eteamz and see all the winners.
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