It was with heavy hearts that the Williams Lake Prospects – a U16 boys minor fastball team – travelled to Clearwater on July 4 for the U16 Boys Softball BC Minor Provincial Championships.
Days prior to the tournament, Kyle Moore, one of the team's coaches from 100 Mile House, passed away suddenly.
His son, Brandon – who, along with Conner Edle, both from 100 Mile, was picked up by the Prospects – decided he wanted to play in the provincial championships. He had the full support of his teammates and coaches.
In honour of their fallen coach, the players wore red ribbons throughout the four-day tournament, which ran from July 5-7.
The teams included Williams Lake, Prince George, Kitimat, Clearwater, Fleetwood, Chilliwack and Cloverdale.
Tournament key organizer Melody Romeo says there were three A/B teams and 4 C teams registered for the tourney. The Prospects registered as a B team played in the A/B division.
“They all played against each other [in the round robin], but in the playoffs, they competed in their own divisions.”
On Friday, the Prospects opened the tournament with a 27-2 run-away victory over the Prince George Timberwolves – a C division team.
Later that day they fell 7-6 to Cloverdale (A/B division) in a closely contested and exciting game.
On Saturday, the Prospects lost to Chilliwack – the eventual A/B division tournament winners.
However, they went on to defeat Cloverdale in a rematch to earn a berth in the bronze-medal finals.
On Sunday, they fell 8-2 to Cloverdale and settled for the A/B division bronze medal.
Prospects manager Trish Morey says the boys gave it their while all facing some tough circumstances.
"They battled the whole weekend. We lost our coach and the one who 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.”
Romeo says there was a moment of silence for Kyle during the opening ceremonies.
“Kyle will be missed by all of us. He was a real friend to the softball fraternity.”
With files from Greg Sabatino.