It was with heavy hearts that the Williams Lake Prospects — an under-16 minor fastball team — travelled to Clearwater last week for the B.C. Provincial Boys Fastball Championships.
The day prior to the tournament one of the team’s coaches from 100 Mile House died suddenly. His son, who plays for the Prospects, decided he still wanted to play, and his teammates were right there to back him up.
The Prospects went on to not only play in the tournament, but overcame adversity to bring home a bronze medal.
In honour of their coach both the Williams Lake and the 100 Mile House players wore red ribbons throughout the four-day tournament, which ran from July 4 to 7 featuring seven teams including Williams Lake, Prince George, Kitimat, Clearwater, Fleetwood, Chilliwack and Cloverdale.
Trish Morey, co-manager of the Prospects, said the boys gave it their all facing some tough circumstances.
“They battled the whole weekend,” she said.
Friday the Prospects opened the tournament with a 27-2 smashing of the Prince George Timberwolves before falling to Cloverdale later in the day, 7-6.
On Saturday the Prospects lost to eventual tournament winners, Chilliwack, but went on to defeat Clearwater by one run to win advance to the bronze-medal final. There, they fell 8-2 to Cloverdale to pickup the bronze.
“We lost our coach and the one that stepped in (Greg Edle) did a really great job ... he didn’t even know the players’ names and had never seen them play before that weekend,” Morey said.
“The boys did really well to get bronze considering the circumstances the team was under.”