The Battlefords Bandits with their gold medals from their opening tournament of the season in Irma, AB. (Facebook/Battlefords Minor Softball)

By Martin Martinson

Bandits Softball

U19 Bandits open season with gold in Alberta

May 15, 2024 | 4:00 PM

The Battlefords Bandits U19 softball team is coming off a home run start to the 2024 season, with a gold medal win at their opening tournament of the year, in Irma, Alberta.

Posting a perfect 4-0 record on their way to the tournament win, the Bandits topped teams from Unity, Stettler, Calgary, and Irma on their way to the gold to open their spring schedule on a high.

Head coach of the U19s, Darren Russell said it was great to see the team really hit the ground running in their first tournament action of the year.

“The girls played really well, our pitchers were on all weekend, and we’ve got some pretty good back catchers with some pretty big arms that blocked a lot of balls and made some plays for us,” he said. “The bats were a little bit cold at the beginning, but they really came on at the end when we needed [the hits] and we went 4-0, so it was a good way to start the season.”

The hot start to the season comes as no surprise for an experienced Bandits’ team with high aspirations again this year. The team features eight players from the core of last year’s U17 squad that won provincials and two from last year’s U19 club that took bronze at Westerns.

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The returning mix is complemented by a trio of key new additions as well, in Edam’s Kayla Conacher and Maidstone sisters Jade and Mya McIntosh.

“Every one of them, even the new kids this year, have been there before,” Russell said of the team’s winning pedigree. “Even the new girls, two years ago were on the [Edam Blue Sox] team that beat us out in the semis at provincials the year we went to the Canada Cup in Surrey, BC., and they went on to win provincials that year. So every kid on this team has won provincials and gone to Westerns and it’s just a great group to coach, with a lot of talented kids.”

It’s a group he said will be working towards a return to Irma, AB., later this year, as the host location of this year’s U19 Westerns at season’s end.

“We’re hoping to get back there and that this isn’t the last time we get a medal put on us in Irma this year,” Russell said.

Also taking home some early-season hardware to open the spring schedule, the U17 Bandits won silver at their tournament in Irma, while the U13s won silver in Saskatoon.

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1