It’s a busy weekend in Girls Prairie League Softball, as the A-Division is in Prince Albert for the All-Star Weekend, while the B Division is in Unity for their Championship Weekend.
After two weekends worth of games for the B Division, it all comes down to three days of softball in a tournament style format. A loss in the first game doesn’t eliminate you, as the road will go through the second bracket for a chance to get back to the final. It all culminates into Sunday’s final games across the four age groups that make up the B Division. In total, 38 teams will be in Unity, looking to play their final game of the season at 4:45 pm, the title set for all four championship games.
U12 B Division
The division leading Olds Pistols finished 10-0, while the Calgary Adrenaline finished 9-1, and will both get their first game of the playoffs on Friday at 5pm. However, they both don’t know their opponents, as the top seeded Pistols will have to wait for the result of the No. 8 seed Red Deer Rage versus the No. 9 seed St. Albert Angels. Both finished 3-7 in their 10 games this season, with the Red Deer Rage taking their regular season meeting back in May during the Opening Weekend with a14-12 victory.
Meanwhile, Calgary will wait for the winner between the No. 7 seed Unity Panthers, who finished 4-6, and the No. 10 seed Red Deer Rage 08, who finished 1-9. Unity defeated Red Deer 11-1 during their only meeting this year, and during the Pink Sox Weekend, won three of their five games.
In the other match-ups, No. 4 Irma Tigers, who finished 7-3, will take on the No. 5 seed Beaumont Blitz, who finished 6-4. Irma took a victory off Beaumont during the Pink Sox Weekend with a 8-5 victory and won four of five games during that weekend’s games.
And in the final match-up, it’s an all Edmonton battle, as the No. 3 seed Warriors 06 will take on their younger counterparts, the No. 6 seed Warriors 07. The Warriors 06 finished 7-3, which included a 12-6 victory during the Opening Weekend, while the Warriors 07 finished 4-6.
U14B Division
The Unity Panthers earned the top seed in the U14B Division with a 9-1 record this season, while the St. Albert Angels earned the No. 2 seed with an 8-2 record. Both will receive first round byes in the U14B Playoffs, while the rest of the division locks together to try and move on to the round of eight in what is the largest playoff pool in the B Division.
The No. 3 seed Elnora Eagles, who finished 8-2, will take on the No. 14 seed Sherwood Park Storm, who finished 2-8. A loss to St. Albert cost the Eagles a bye, but they finished the Pink Sox Weekend with four victories in five games. They also defeated the Storm 16-9 earlier this season. Sherwood Park, meanwhile, are coming in having won two of their last three games.
The Irma Tigers also finished 8-2 but had to settle for the No. 4 seed, will take on the No. 13 seed Calgary Adrenaline, who finished 3-7. Irma took the Pink Sox Weekend victory over Calgary, 14-9, and won four of five games that weekend.
The No. 5 seed Edmonton Rivercity finished 7-3 to round out the jam packed top half of the standings and will take on the Airdrie Angels who finished 3-7. Edmonton took the Opening Weekend game 13-9, but the Angels are coming in winning two of their last three games.
The No. 6 seed Innisfail Hawks finished 5-5 and will take on the No. 11 seed Beaumont Blitz, who finished 3-7. These two teams will be very familiar with each other, as they faced off in the final game of their seasons during the Pink Sox Weekend, with Beaumont getting the better of the higher seed with a 15-7 victory.
The No. 7 seed Red Deer Rage finished 5-5 and will take on the No. 10 seed Lloydminster Liners who finished 3-7. It will be the first meeting between the two this season. The winner of this game will take on the St. Albert Angels in the second round.
The victor between the No. 8 seed Olds Pistols and No. 9 seed Calgary South Bow will meet the top seed Unity Panthers in the second round. Olds finished 4-9, while Calgary finished 3-7. Olds edged out the previous meeting with an 11-10 victory.
U16B Division
There are no byes in the U16B Division, as the top seeded Unity Panthers, who went undefeated with a 10-0 record, will try and win on home field, as they start off against the No. 8 seed Olds Pistols. Unity won the previous match-up during the Opening Weekend 16-0.
The No. 2 seed Medicine Hat Thunder finished 8-2, and will take on the No. 7 seed St. Albert Angels who finished 1-8. Medicine Hat took their Pink Sox Weekend game 8-1, and edged out the second seed with a victory over the Irma Tigers, who had to settle for the No. 3 seed, despite also finishing 8-2. They will take on the Sedgewick Oilers, who finished 4-6 and earned the No. 6 seed. Irma won their earlier meeting, 7-0.
And in the final first round matchup, the No. 4 seed Red Deer Rage who finished 6-4 will take on the No. 5 seed CalahooErins, who finished 5-5. Red Deer took their meeting during the Opening Weekend with a 18-5 victory.
U19B Division
The Red Deer Rage finished 10-0 in the U19B Division, and earned the top seed and a first round bye. As did the Irma Tigers, who finished 8-2, as they were the only two teams to finish about .500. But during the playoffs, anything can happen.
The No. 4 Lacombe Matrix finished 4-6 and will take on the No. 5 seed Unity Panthers, who finished 2-7. In their earlier season game during the Opening Weekend, Lacombe edged out the Panthers 14-12. The winner will play the Red Deer in the second round.
In the other first round game, the No. 3 seed East Central Cobras, who finished 4-6, will take on the No. 6 seed Central Alberta Impact, who finished 2-8. The two victories the Impact had this season came off the Cobras, as they defeated them 7-4 during the Opening Weekend and 8-5 in their rematch during Pink Sox Weekend.
