The Melfort Spirit team won the U14 division after the game was called late with the Spirit holding the lead.(Facebook/Melfort Minor Softball Association)

By Mat Barrett

Melfort 222's Fastpitch Shootout

Despite rain, everyone happy with Melfort 222’s Fastpitch Shootout

Jun 17, 2019 | 4:51 PM

The Melfort 222’s Fastpitch Shootout took place over the weekend, and it was a wet one.

With about 30mm of rain falling in the Melfort region between mid-afternoon Friday and late Sunday, conditions were not favourable, but Melfort Minor Softball Association president, Kirk Kezema, said overall it went well.

“For the conditions we had, in terms of the rain, I think we did the best we could,” he said. “And everybody I think in the end was pretty happy with what we could get out of it.”

In the end, there was some rescheduling that was needed with 23 teams participating in the fourth annual event. Kezema said they were still able to get in a good amount of games.

“Certainly the rescheduling took away some games,” Kezema told northeastNOW. “But we were able to get in enough games to make it a tournament where we ended up having a championship round and having some champions in the end.”

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From about 3 p.m. on Saturday, to the finals on Sunday, the most games were played after the grounds crew got the field dried up. But rain did come back late Sunday, resulting in some interesting finishes in the divisions.

In the U12 division the Melfort Spirit team was battling the Saskatoon Lasers, but rain began midway through the game. With the score tied, the committee decided to call the game and name the Spirit and Lasers “co-winners” of the U12 division.

In the U14 division, the Melfort Spirit team faced off against the Regina Saints. With the Spirit holding a nice lead late in the game, and the rain coming hard, the game was called and the Spirt took home the U14 title.

There was no Spirit team in the U16 division, but that division also had co-winners with the Saskatoon Hustlers and Regina Saints set to meet in the final. However, the game did not start due to the rain.

Kezema said the weekend would not have gone as well as it did if it wasn’t for the volunteers.

“We have a very, very loyal and good volunteer group within the association,” he said. “And they come and help out and do all the gates, and do the concessions, 50/50 draws, things like that, the scorekeeping, the announcing, so it’s been very positive that way, and it kind of adds to the tournament when we have all of these types of things going on at the tournament.”

Kezema added that the committees and board will sit down and dissect the tournament and discuss what can be improved. He said the tournament is still growing and they will move forward with their fifth annual Melfort 222’s Fastpitch Shootout next year.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6