The last weekend of the WCSA regular season featured exciting regional play.
In Regina the sun was shining, and SAIT, Saskatchewan, Regina, and Mount Royal battled it out for prairie superiority. The games featured lots of offense and every team had some big wins and tough losses: Saskatchewan (4-1), Regina (2-2-1), Mount Royal (2-3), and SAIT (1-3-1). Saskatchewan continues to improve and move up the standings. Standout players were Katie Berg (9 hits, 3 RBI) and Hayley McLean (8 hits, 5 RBI) with Madison McNeil providing quality pitching. Regina’s Brooke Bentz had a powerful home run and totaled 9 hits and 7 RBIs. Makayla Jack was an offensive star with 6 hits and 5 RBI including a home run. For Mount Royal, Maryanne Babineau pitched an excellent game in the victory over SAIT and went 3-for-3 with 3 RBIs. SAIT’s highlight game was opening the weekend with an 8-3 victory over Saskatchewan, handing them their only loss of the weekend. It was a team effort with multiple hits by Annika Ferguson, Charli Calon, Samara Saywer, Tehya Funk, and Lainey Levesque.
In Kelowna, Calgary, Lethbridge, Victoria, and UBCO, battled for bragging rights and regular season league rankings. The games started on Friday night with a tribute to the firefighters in the Okanagan region. Lethbridge threatened to end UBCO’s perfect win streak leading 7 to 4 in the bottom of the 7th only to have UBCO come back with 3 runs in the last inning for the 7-7 tie. Bella Green had 4 hits. Calgary and UBCO battled all weekend playing for first place in the league. UBCO emerged victorious with game scores of 3-2 and 8-5. Pitcher Mikhaela Muir was on fire all weekend giving up only 1 earned run. Cheyenne Simicak hit a key homerun in the second game in a 4-run 6 inning to get the win. Calgary was going long all weekend with home runs by Makenna Stevens, Chloe Maher (2), Gabriella Coderre, and Hayley Reid. It was three home runs by the powerful Calgary batters that secured the 5-4 victory over Victoria. Victoria had a huge highlight on Saturday with a 7-6 victory over UBCO, breaking their undefeated streak and powered by a grand slam in the top of the 7th by Clare Johnson. Lethbridge battled all weekend starting with the tie on Friday night versus UBCO and losing another close game 6-5 versus UBCO on Sunday. Offensive stars were Megan Hunter (7 hits, 2 RBI) and McKenna Cowan (5 hits, 4 RBI) with Ainsley Olson pitching multiple games.
The regular season has wrapped up. Congratulations to UBC Okanagan qualifying for National’s in 2024 as the regular season league champion! Playoffs in Calgary next week determine the WCSA champion and the second team qualifying for Nationals in 2024.
Final Regular Season Standings:
Team | W | L | T | Win % |
UBC Okanagan | 19 | 1 | 1 | 0.905 |
Calgary | 17 | 7 | 1 | 0.680 |
Saskatchewan | 16 | 9 | 0 | 0.640 |
Victoria | 15 | 10 | 0 | 0.600 |
Regina | 12 | 12 | 1 | 0.480 |
Lethbridge | 6 | 18 | 1 | 0.240 |
Mount Royal | 5 | 19 | 1 | 0.200 |
SAIT | 5 | 19 | 1 | 0.200 |