It's rare to see Cinderella-type stories of a team coming from the depths of the bottom to shock and awe everyone with their amazing play.
The Rowdy Roses women's slo-pitch team was on that kind of roll and it almost turned into one of the performances we see once every 44 years (see 1974 Yellowknife Junior Merchants).
The ladies were competing in the women's C division at the Slo-Pitch National Canadian Championships in Leduc, Alta., one of the venues for this year's championships, and ended up in fourth place after losing to WFC from Edmonton in the semifinal. Not a bad result for a team that was playing for its very life in every game once the playoffs began on Aug. 5.
Joyce Blake of Fort McPherson was part of the squad and said they had to win to stay in for the entire playoff.
“The top four teams got two lives and the bottom five teams in the division got just one life,” she said.
The Roses finished eighth after the round-robin with a record of one win and three losses. Their first game came against Mama's Del Paso of Drayton Valley, Alta., with the winner moving on. The Roses managed to come out on top in that one to move into the next round, which was against Pretty Tough from Red Deer, Alta.
Pretty Tough beat the Roses in the round-robin in a game which Blake said came down to the dreaded one bad inning.
“We lost 7-1 but they scored six runs in one inning,” she said.
The rematch was one of the two games where the Roses walked off the win as Jenn Kalinek had the game-winning hit to put the Roses through to the next round, where they took on Sirens Call of Saskatoon. Dana Gard, formerly of Yellowknife, played the hero this time as she cranked one deep into the gap to score the winning run from second base to keep their hopes alive.
The run would come to an end as WFC simply outhit the Roses and they had no answer.
“They just hit it where we weren't,” said Blake. “That's slo-pitch – whoever's hitting the ball well and getting base hits is going to win.”
The official finish for the Roses was fourth, not bad considering their round-robin result but Blake said there was one thing that made her happier than anything else.
“I was just so happy to play on Monday,” she said. “I never expected us to do as well as we did and all of us were really surprised.”
So surprised that even after the loss to WFC, Blake said the ladies were still celebrating.
Part of what made the team so good, said Blake, was how the team was able to adapt to certain situations.
“Dana and her sister, Tehnille, could play anywhere,” she said. “I would go into the field, other ladies would switch up positions. That's the mark of a good team.”
The Roses qualified to play in Leduc after winning the 2017 NWT Women's Slo-Pitch Championship in Inuvik. They weren't able to defend their title this year but they did come second and the top two teams automatically qualify for the 2019 nationals.
Blake said nationals may not happen but there's a possibility the team may still hit the road.
“There's lots of tournaments in Alberta so we'll look at playing in one of those,” she said. “It's a big commitment and you're giving up a long weekend to play so we may skip nationals but we'll keep playing.”