Monday evening at the Battleford Flats, the Battlefords and District Ladies' Fastball League was underway with game one of the championship final and the consolation on the diamonds.
The Bandits and Vipers played for A-side supremacy, while the Battlefords Survivors and Unity Bantam Panthers #2 squared off for the B-side championship. The Bandits gutted out a 3-2 victory, while the Panthers drove in the winning run in the sixth to pull out the 5-4 win.
The Bandits got to the Vipers' starting pitcher Christa Blaquiere early for two runs after three walks and no hits in the first inning. She eventually settled in after that pitching four innings, fanning four batters and walking no more after the first inning.
Brittany Fedler pitched the final innings for the Vipers, but their offence couldn't get a rally going all night. The Bandits' pitchers, Sydney Rempel and Caitlyn Woloski, did a tremendous job of controlling the Vipers' bats and held on for the slim victory after the Bandits added their third run, aided by a walk and anerror in the fifth inning.
The Vipers scored that run right back in the top of the sixth, after a couple of walks and a clutch base hit plated the run.
Things became heated after a couple close strike calls and a call on a Vipers' base runner that essentially killed the rally in the seventh inning, but nonetheless these two local rivals will have a chance to settle it all on the diamond Wednesday evening.
The Vipers and Midget Bandits will meet again for game two Wednesday at 7 p.m. atthe Flats as the Bandits needed to beat the Vipers twice in the double elimination format.
On the consolation side it was do or die for both teams and the Panthers, who finished fifth in the league after the regular season, ended up third following the win over the Survivors. Shelby Solomko was the Panthers' starting pitcher and did enough to fend off the Survivors' attack and end the Panthers' season with a victory.
