Blue Stars

Midget B - 4^th place
Coached by Peter Powell

Devils

Midget C - Silver Medal
Coached by Ray Hughes

92 Stars

Bantam B - 4^th place
Coached by Pat Julien

Cardinals

Bantam C - Silver Medal
Coached by Ron Stewart

94 Stars

Pee Wee B - 8^th place
Coached by Earl Vance

Avalanche

Pee Wee C - Gold Medal, BC Provincial Champions!
Coached by Mark Jones

96 Stars

Squirt B - 7^th place
Coached by Tom Cumming

Devils Tournament Report

By Ray Hughes

The North Van Devils took Silver in Cordova Bay on July 6th, 2008. Campbell River placed first and were the only team able to beat the Devils during the tournament. We met Campbell River in our first round robin game and held the lead until the sixth inning losing 6-1. With the pressure on us for the rest of the round robin play, we responded with a 7-3 win over Poco Labats, a 9-5 win against Langley and finished with a strong 12-0 mercy playing the Tswwassen Extreme. We met the host team, Cordova Bay in our first playoff game, taking the lead in the first inning and hanging on to a one run win. Our second playoff game on Saturday night was against another very strong team, Strawberry Vale, a team we have wanted to play for years but have never matched up with in tournament play. We dealt them a decisive 6-0 loss and returned to our hotel room knowing that we had already secured a bronze medal and that our team was now facing the uncertainty of major change next season!

We returned to the field Sunday morning to face Campbell River for the second time. They managed to take the lead early and although we had a valiant attempt to come from behind in the sixth and seventh we fell short and lost 5-4. We were now on the losing side of the tournament and played immediately against Strawberry Vale again. This was a see-saw affair with Strawberry Vale tying the game with four runs in the top of the seventh. With two out and two runners on, our back up catcher drove in the winning run with a single to centre. The team was ecstatic and now had secured the silver medal.

With injuries mounting and fatigue setting in the coaches were happy that we had brought sixteen players with us. We drew first blood with one run in the top of the 1st and they responded with one. In the bottom of the second they scored again to take the lead. In the bottom of the third they added four more and held the lead to win 6-1. All our girls agreed that any team that could beat us three times definitely deserved to win the gold. We were happy to take second, the best that we have ever done in a Provincial final.

Our entire team put in a stellar performance throughout the tournament. In addition we saw many individual players give personal bests with extreme effort and precision play making. Our true MVPs of the weekend were our players on the bench who saw the least playing time but more than compensated by fulfilling a support role including keeping all the pitchers constantly warmed up and ready, by being constantly prepared themselves to sub in, by cheering on the players on the field and by helping the coaches with general bench management. To those players, well done, in my eyes you are the true NVGSA stars!

92 Stars Tournament Report

By Pat Julian

The North Vancouver Bantam B Stars (formerly the house league North Vancouver Sun Devils supplemented by two former rep players) capped an amazing streak of participating in five consecutive Provincials by placing a fantastic fourth against 15 select rep teams in Port Alberni!  Some of the girls have played together now for nine seasons so the bond and camaraderie of  the Stars'92/Sun Devils is unique and special, and was a cornerstone reason why the girls did so well.  The team now holds the distinction of being one of the only (and maybe the only one)  teams in the history of minor softball  in BC to place fourth or better in three consecutive Provincials, having been provincial champions as Pee Wee C and third place as first year Bantam C.  The girls were definitely fan favourites in the games they played and their class and sportsmanship was constantly on display.  The scores are noted below, but win or lose, the girls' spirit and fun loving attitude was never at a loss!

Game #1: Surrey Storm - 4, Stars - 5
Down 4-1, Stars wake up and make solid comeback, finished at top of 7th inning, MVP - Rochelle Robichaud

Game #2: Stars - 1, North Langley Lightning - 8
North Langley was the provincial champions & held a 6-0 lead after the first inning, finished at bottom of 5th inning, MVP - Nicole Stevens

Game #3: Ridge Meadow Rage - 1, Stars - 4
Well played game & highly entertaining, finished at top of 7th inning, MVP - Keely Baker

Game #4: Stars - 11, Poco Ravens - 2
Everybody hit, finished at bottom of 5th inning, MVP - Dorianna Dickson

Game #5: Ridge Meadows Rage - 4, Stars - 3
Stars led 3-1 going in to the top of the 7th but the girls sagged a bit when star second base Nicole Stevens broke her arm attempting an unbelievable catch

Game #6: Mission Pride - 0, Stars - 1
Huge upset & best played game of the tournament

Game #7: Stars - 2, Ridge Meadows Rage - 5
Tank was empty after Mission game

Avalanche Tournament Report

By Sandy Karr

PeeWee C Avalanche travelled to Summerland on July 3rd to participate in the Provincial Championships. At first glance, we appeared to have the toughest draw of the tournament - two Island teams (Langford and Gordon Head), Chilliwack, and North Delta (who we had beaten by one run in the Fleetwood tournament earlier in the year).

Our first game went to the international tiebreaker, where Langford beat us by one run and put us in the position of having to win the next three or go home early. We next faced Chilliwack and managed to squeak out a 6-4 win. Then it was on to North Delta, where our girls played an virtually flawless fielding game, winning 7 - 4. Finally, we faced Gordon Head, got out to an early lead, and advanced to the Championship round in fourth position overall.

We faced Powell River in the first game and this time our bats were hot, with 19 runs scored on 24 hits. The next game was key - the loser would have to play 4 back to back games to get to the finals. Our opponent was #2 ranked Fleetwood, and we managed to turn a double play and defeat them 9 -8 with the tying run on third.

Guaranteed at least a bronze medal, we met #1 ranked Mission - who had defeated us for silver two years earlier - in the semi-finals. The game once again went to an international tiebreaker but this time, we emerged victorious and went through to the finals.

Fleetwood had just played four back to back and would have to beat us twice to win. Understandably, they were exhausted but gave it their best effort against a team that was firing on all cylinders and the final score was 19 - 6 for the North Van Avalanche.

• Overall team batting average: .454
• Overall team slugging average: .493
• Overall team on base %: .567
• Tears shed after the final game: 4,233 (mostly from the parents)

96 Stars Tournament Report

Click here to read the tournament report.