Three’s a charm for the Williams Lake Rowdy Chix.
The competitive ladies slo-pitch team took home gold last weekend in Merritt, after competing in the ladies 12-team slo-pitch tournament and placing in the top three spots for the past three years in a row.
Team organizer and pitcher Linda Barbondy said she was happy with how her team performed at the annual event, playing three games Saturday and three more back-to-back games Sunday.
“We love going to the Merritt tournament. It’s well-organized and well run.”
Barbondy said this year’s win was especially satisfying, as the team continued its three-year-run to first place. The first year the team played in Merritt they won bronze, and last year silver.
In Saturday’s match-ups, the Rowdy Chix blew the competition away with one-sided affairs ending in scores of 12-5, 20-0 and 18-1.
The Rowdy Chix continued their victory march Sunday morning with a 15-4 win, before meeting their toughest challengers - a team from 100 Mile House – in the semi-final contest where the women narrowly advanced to the finals with a 15-14 win.
“After that game we gave ourselves a talking to that we weren’t going to let that happen again,” Barbondy said, her arm still sore Tuesday from pitching so many games.
In the finals, the Rowdy Chix proved what they were capable of, bringing home 18 runs in the first three innings.
“They answered back with nothing,” Barbondy said of the Kamloops challengers, noting the umpire made a mercy call in the fifth inning and handed the win to the Rowdy Chix.
Barbondy, who also heads up the Williams Lake Slo-Pitch League, said she is trying to organize a league end-of-season tournament for Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. to wrap up the 2017 season.
All told, 30 teams – or 700 participants – make up the Williams Lake Slo-Pitch League. Teams have not played regular league games since wildfires broke out July 7, but did manage to get about 10 games in during April, May and June.