The Prince George Thunderbirds girls softball team will be taking about "the catch" for a long time.
It helped them to their one and only victory at the bantam B under-16 provincial championships Sunday morning at Freeman Park.
Leading the Langley Xtreme 2-0 in the third inning Sunday morning, T-birds left fielder Erica Bayes took off a run trying to track down a hard-hit ball that was dropping fast. She timed her dive perfectly and with her body fully-extended horizontally she made the catch for the first out. The T-birds went on to beat Langley 3-2.
"That was probably the best game of my life, we all played good and we actually hit, said Bayes.
"I'm just glad I made this team, to play with 16-year-olds is a great opportunity. I used to dive all the time and missed the ball every time and I finally caught it."
Her accomplishment on the field Sunday wasn't lost on her coach, Walter Colk.
"She made some incredible catches, one extraordinary catch, and hit very well," said Colk. "She's an up-and-coming girl who shouldn't even be playing as a bantam because she's still peewee, she's just 13."
The T-birds finished 13th out of 18 teams at the tournament. After one-sided losses on Friday to South Surrey and South Delta 99's, the T-birds posted a pair of 5-4 losses to Penticton and South Delta '98, outcomes which easily could have favoured Prince George.
We had two close games that could have gone either way and that made it easier to take," said T-birds Shyenne Laboucain shortstop. "The highlight was our final game it just left us with some confidence when we come back next year."
The T-birds represented northern B.C. two weekends ago at the B.C. Summer Games in Nanaimo, where they played A-level teams. T-birds captain Cheyenne helped them get ready to host the provincial tournament.
"For our guys to lose two games by one run and finish by winning a game by one run they should be proud, they did a great job," said Colk. "It's an eight-hour run every time we go anywhere to play. We do play the older girls here [in the Prince George Senior Women's Softball Association] but really nothing beats playing against your own [age group] on a continual basis like these other team do."
Aiyana Basi went the rest of the way as the Prince George pitcher after starter Alicia Strizich suffered a broken finger in the game Friday against South Surrey.
"Aiyana is a warrior," said Colk. "She stood in there real well and she deserves an opportunity to play [for a university team]."
