ST. PAUL - Another St. Paul team has brought home provincial hardware after a hard fought weekend on the diamond.
The U16D girls softball team went to Edmonton Aug. 6-8 to take part in provincials and came away with silver medals.
"We had a very competitive pool on our side," says coach Daryl Naundorf. The tournament included 10 teams split into two groups of five. "In our pool we beat Edmonton, Lethbridge, Beaumont and Rimbey."
The team battled hard and came out on top with four wins in their pool, "winning each game with a level of compete that made us very proud of our girls, thus sending us to the crossover against second place in the other pool."
The game would see two Lakeland teams battle for a spot in the finals, with St. Paul coming up against Cold Lake. St. Paul won the game, and earned themselves a spot in the gold medal game against Chestermere. In the end, Chestermere would come out on top.
"With the shortened season, we as a coaching staff could not be more proud of how well our girls performed in a variety of situations," says the coach. "We had rain delays to navigate and some tough innings to get through, but we persevered as a team."
Naundorf says the girls showed a "true team spirit and a desire to succeed," while supporting each other throughout.
And it wasn't just the players who earned success on the diamond, but the entire coaching staff, says Naundorf. The team also had financial support from the Town of St. Paul, the County of St. Paul and Greg’s Value Drugmart.
"Overall, it was hard work and dedication to practicing and improving skills by everyone involved that led to our success and the silver medal at provincials."