The Moose Jaw Ice nearly pulled off an impressive comeback in their second game at the Softball Canada U17 AA national championship in Saskatoon, but ended up settling for a one-run loss and falling to 1-1 in the preliminary round.
Facing the P.E.I. Whitecaps on Wednesday night, the Ice trailed 5-2 heading into the sixth inning but would plate a pair of runs and get the tying run to second before just falling short.
Macy Litzenberger scored the first run of the inning, hitting a lead-off single and coming around to score on an Ashley Breitkruez double. Tianna Weibe took over on the basepaths for Breitkreuz and would go to third on a passed ball before stealing home for the second run of the frame. One batter later the Whitecaps would get a pop-up to second to finish the threat and earn the win.
The Ice took a 1-0 lead out of the first inning when Breitkreuz hit her first double of the game to bring home Cadence Colborn, but the Whitecaps would take advantage of three hits and a pair of walks to put up four the next inning.
Another run in the second made it a 5-1 game before the Ice got one back in the fifth. Colborn needed no help this time around, hitting a solo home run over the right-field fence.
There things remained until the seventh and Moose Jaw’s near comeback.
Breitkreuz was 3-for-4 with her two doubles to lead the Ice offence, while Litzenberger had a pair of hits in four trips to the plate. All told, Moose Jaw had 11 hits in the game.
Hope McLeod got the start in the circle and went the distance, allowing the five runs on six hits and four walks while striking out 13.
The provincial champion Ice had most of Thursday off before facing the Ontario champion Whitby Eagles at 8 p.m. They’re back on the field on Friday against the Calgary Kaizen Black, the third-ranked team out of Alberta, before facing the Cloverdale Fury, the third-ranked team out of B.C. to close out the round robin.
The top two teams from each of the four pools advance to the championship round, with the playoffs running all day Saturday, followed by the semifinals Sunday morning and gold medal game at 2:30 p.m.
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