Three Peninsula teens recently travelled to Kirkland, Wash. to represent Canada in the Junior Softball Little League World Series. They were part of a national team that made it to the finals – the first time for Canada in the tournament’s history.
The series, which ran Aug. 12 to 18, saw teams come together from around the globe, including six teams from the U.S., one from the Czech Republic (Prague) and one from Latin American (Puerto Rico), to compete for the little league title.
The three girls, Christina Bourassa, Emma Bowman and Courtney Sjerven, qualified for the world series by making the all-star team for Layritz Little League. The team won the Canadian Softball Championships, which were held in Victoria earlier this month.
The team was the first Canadian team to make the playoffs and the finals in the world series.
“Canada hasn’t faired very well at the World Series tournaments in the past due to the very tough competition,” said team manager Paul Tucker.
The Layritz team went 2-1 in the round robin and ended up second in their pool during the tournament.
“Before the world series, the team set a goal of winning two round robin games, which would qualify them for the semi finals and a top four finish. At the time, and given past results, this seemed like a lofty goal, but we knew we had a good team and would be able to compete,” Tucker said.
“The girls played great and exceeded expectations by not only qualifying for the semi finals, but beating Latin America in the semis [by a score of 5-2], to move on to the finals.”
The Canadian girls then played the U.S. West team from the Nunaka Little League in Anchorage, Alaska in the final. The team couldn’t pull out a victory and lost 6-2.
“The girls represented our city, our province and our country with class and sportsmanship both on and off the field and we couldn’t be prouder of their efforts,” Tucker said.