The U17 Central Energy team wrapped up their 2024 season with an impressive seventh-place finish at the 2024 U17 Girls AAA Softball Canadian Championship in Calgary, Alberta, from July 31 to Aug. 4.
The U17 Central Energy roster with their most commonly played positions throughout the year is Nelia Fehr (P), Molly Cowan (P), Karli Toews (P), Gabbi Hildebrand (1B), Christina Vandevelde (CF), Molly Conrad (SS/3B), Maddy Friesen (LF), Tori Mangin (RF), Hailey-Jo Guffei (2B), Brooklyn Friesen (C/SS), Kara Buhler (C/SS), Heidi Reimer (1B), Molly Cowan (P/3B), and Emma Klassen (3B).
U17 Central Energy began the Nationals by going 4-1 in round-robin play, which was good for second place in their pool. They defeated the Saskatoon Select Blues (10-1), Nova Scotia Schooners (2-0), Team Quebec (8-5) and Ontario Southwest Revolution (8-1), with losses to only the Fraser Valley Fusion (BC) by a 16-9 score.
In the first round of the playoffs, Central Energy faced their Manitoba rival, the Eastman Wildcats, and sadly, their Nationals run ended prematurely with a rough 10-2 loss.
A solo home run to right field by Maddy Friesen put Central Energy on the board at the bottom of the first, but the Wildcats scored three runs in the next inning to take the lead and would not look back from there. When the dust had settled, Eastman won 10-2.
Karli Toews led things off in the pitching circle for U17 Central Energy. The starting pitcher gave up two hits and three runs (zero earned) over one and one-third innings, striking out none and walking two. Nelia Fehr then came in and pitched three innings in relief. She gave up seven hits and seven runs (three earned) while striking out three and walking two.
“On the last play of the game, Molly Cowan hit a rocket to centre field,” said Central Energy manager Bobbi-Jo Guffei. “It was a beautiful hit. And a six-inch difference in that hit would have been a three-run homer to change the momentum and shake things up a bit.”
Central Energy’s goal coming into the event was to finish somewhere in the top 10, so finishing seventh in the country was a big mission accomplished for the club. Brooklyn Friesen was also named one of the national championship all-stars.
“It was an incredible week for the girls,” said U17 Central Energy head coach Cam Zacharias. “All week, our pitching was great, with some wonderful individual efforts. The team had wanted a top-10 finish, and I believe we ended up in seventh for the week. So they achieved that goal, but we left feeling that we could have made it further. We left a lot of runners on the bases in our last game and had the chance to score a lot more, but it just wasn’t in the cards for us.”
U17 Central Energy will hopefully have many returning players next season who are eager to return and finish even higher on the national stage in the future.
“We learned a lot going there this year and know what to work on to get an even higher finish in the future,” said Zacharias. “The girls represented their organization and the province tremendously, and I am proud of every one of them. They are all great athletes and great ambassadors of the game with endless highlights of amazing defence and hitting.”
