Oxford Wildcats Complete Near Perfect Season
The Oxford Wildcats capped off a near perfect season today by winning the provincial Girls U14 Baseball Championship.
Oxford came from behind to down Tri-County 8-7 in the tournament final.Grace weatherbee powered a bases loaded single into centre field for the walk-off victory.
The Wildcats struggled against Tri-County’s ace pitcher who threw 75 pitches and came out of the game in the fifth inning leading 4-3. Ella Tapper welcomed the receiver by rapping a 2 RBI single to start the comeback.
Emma Reade threw two innings, allowing three runs. Ella Tapper went two and a third giving up a lone score, and Haley Jacklin fulfilled her role as the closer.
The girls finished the season with a 15 and 1 record. The one was not a loss, but a tie, hence the “near perfect” season.
It was nearly the same team that captured the Nova Scotia Championship two years ago when they competed in the under twelve age group. There was no tournament last year because of the COVID restrictions, so the group graduated to the under fourteen group.
Joe Reade says it is an easy team to coach. He said, “We knew we had twelve kids that wanted to play. We had twelve kids at every single game of the season.” He added, “I preached dedication,” and the players and their parents responded.
The coach says, “If you dedicate yourself like this, perfection is not that hard to come by.”
The team will lose a few key players over the winter, graduating to the next level. Reade says if they are back together in two years for the U16, he would not be surprised to see the same level of commitment and success.
Reade will be a guest on Morning Talk tomorrow morning on Six Rivers Radio. Listen HERE at 9:45.
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