The Palmerston Marlins Novice Girls, Provincial Champions, boarded a bus and began the long journey to Stellarton, Nova Scotia on Aug. 20 to compete in the Eastern Canadian Fastball Championships hosted by the Stellarton Subway Stingers.
The Marlins won their first game on Aug. 22 against Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia 10-3.
This game was followed by the opening ceremonies, including bag pipers and an RCMP escort onto the field.
The next day the Marlins beat Sackville, Nova Scotia 12-5, however the next game was a 9-8 loss to Etoiles Madawaska, New Brunswick.
On Aug. 24 the team’s bats came alive for wins over the New Brunswick Memramcook Dynamites 13-5 and the Stellarton, Nova Scotia Stingers 11-3.
This advanced the Marlins into the gold medal round on Aug. 25.
But before that, on the evening of Aug. 24, the team, coaches and families had some time to experience the harbour life and food fare that the East Coast has to offer.
On the afternoon of Aug. 25 the Marlins faced their rivals from Ontario: the North Oxford Crush. During regular season play the Marlins came up short each time against the Crush, but defeated them both games in provincials.
The game was tight with the score tied after five innings, but the end result was a close loss to the Crush, earning the Marlins a silver medal for ladies fastball in Eastern Canada.
The 2013 Novice Marlins team is the first novice team from the Palmerston Marlins to advance to the Eastern Canadians Fastball Championships.
“We would like to thank all of the family, friends and generous sponsors for their time, donations and support throughout the season and especially for helping to make our trip to the East Coast possible for the incredible opportunity to represent Ontario,” team officials state.
Coaches Dave McEachern, Ken Iles, Bruce Johnston, Brad Culp, bench mom Danielle Schill, and scorekeeper/manager Mary Iles state they are “very proud of the girls accomplishments this season,” and wish all of them good luck at upcoming try-outs.
