Following third- and fourth-place finishes in two recent tournaments, the 100 Mile N Hour squirts ball team's season is over, but the coaches are looking for bigger and better things next year.
Kyle Moore, who coaches the squad of 10- to 12-year-olds with Chris Edlund, says they are already preparing to make a trip to the provincials next year.
Noting he only loses two players who are moving up to peewees, Moore says he has a good nucleus of "great kids" who got a chance to play against some of the best teams in the province and hold their own for the most part.
Because there are no squirt teams in Quesnel or Williams Lake, he says the 100 Mile squad will get a free berth in the provincials, and now it's just a matter of looking for sponsors, raising some money and applying early next year.
"We want to hold a big tourney here, so we have to let all the teams know about it at the beginning of the season."
On June 18-19, 100 Mile N Hour travelled to Clearwater for a peewee C tourney, where they faced 13- to 14-year-old players.
However, they played well against the older, bigger boys, and the biggest problem was trying to catch up to the faster pitching. Moore says he was proud of the boys, as they were only three runs away from taking third place.
They lost 15-4 in their first game against Clearwater 1's flame-throwing chucker, and Moore says the boys quickly learned why we've been telling them all year to be on their toes and have their gloves up.
They won a nail-biter 10-9 against Merritt thanks to good pitching and defence.
100 Mile N Hour knocked off the second Clearwater squad 15-11 with a lot of bunting, hitting for singles and smart base running, Moore says.
They took it on the chin 16-2 in the first game Sunday, as they came up against another hard-throwing chucker from Barriere.
The loss put them up against Barriere in the semifinals, where they were shut out 13-0, but never let up or hung their heads.
That put them into the consolation final where they faced Merritt but came out on the short end of a 13-10 score, Moore says.
"They never gave up and the never got down on each other. At the end of the day, they were really proud of themselves for how well they played against the older boys."
The previous weekend, 100 Mile N Hour took third place in the Barriere tourney where they played against boys their own age in a total-points format.
The boys reeled off three straight victories - 20-3 over Barriere A&W, 13-4 over Prince George, and 18-3 over Barriere Defence.
Then they ran into Clearwater, which was last year's provincial champion. Noting it was their first taste of going against a fast pitcher, Moore says and they were overwhelmed 9-3.
"It was good for them to see how they measured up against a really strong team, but they scored a few runs at the end of the game."
The boys rebounded with an 18-5 victory over Kamloops thanks to some good hitting. "They really had their eyes on the ball for that game."
However, Moore says they "just tuckered out because of the heat" and lost 17-8 to Port Alberni.
"It's an excellent group of kids. They're always the most sportsmanlike and there's great support from the parents."
The team wants to thank Brad Paddison for paying all of the entry fees for the season, Moore concludes.
