Carrying their season long, nearly undefeated hot streak right to the end, the U12 Elite Girls finished things off in fitting fashion over the weekend.

They headed to Regina for the provincial championships, where they swept the round robin without a loss and advanced to the B championship.

There, they took the Unity Pathers in a battle for the gold. After 4 innings, the game was tied 6-6. A back and forth melee ensued, but by the end of the 6th, the Elite had a slim 11-10 lead. Unity quicky evened the score once again in the 7th, and it remained that way until 9 innings were through. 

Finally, Estevan found the winning runs to win the championship and gold medals.

 

"It was a fantastic way to finish, not only just with the gold but the way that the whole last game went. It was very intense," said Shawn Madsen, "We'd played them (Unity) in the round robin, and we'd had a reasonably good game, it wasn't a walkover. Probably our toughest match in the round robin, although we did go undefeated with a 4-0 record. Once we got to this one, they had definitely stepped up their game and it was exciting as a ball game could get."

"There were a lot of times that fans on our side were like, 'well, this is it, I guess we're getting the silver', and then our girls would fight back and tie it. And then I'm sure on the other end, we'd go up and they'd be like, 'I guess we're getting the silver here', too. So it was definitely a back and forth battle, and the two best teams that were there ended up in the final. That's how you want it," he expressed, adding that at one point, the game was only a strike from an Estevan win, but Unity held on to tie.

The crowd rooting for Estevan was hesitant, Madsen shared, because they'd several times thought the game was won, only to be mistaken. When the win finally was solidified, the emotion flowed (as seen in the video).

Several U12 girls will move on to play for the U14 squad, including some of the top pitchers in the province. However, a strong crop of players are ready and waiting to step up for another season.