The young Langford Rebels and the Victoria Devils will be the Vancouver Island reps at the 2012 Canadian Under-18 Girls' Softball Championships which begin today in Montreal.
The Rebels will lose only one player after this season while this will be the last opportunity to win a national title by this Devils' squad.
The Devils finished second at the recent provincials in Victoria, losing the final 7-3 to the White Rock Renegades '95 (the year the players were born) team.
The Rebels posted an overall record of 4-3 at the provincials to also gain a spot into the 17-team championship. The other sa国际传媒 teams headed to Montreal are the White Rock Renegades '94 and '95 squads and Surrey Storm.
"We'll have one of the youngest teams from sa国际传媒 at the tournament,'' said Rebels' assistant coach Russ Fanucchi. "We have only one Grade 12 player [Shelby Peterson], and the rest will be back for another crack at it next year. The No. 1 key for us is the pitching of Brittany Olender. She pitched every game for us at the provincials.''
Peterson, who does the catching for the Rebels, had a .571 batting average during the provincials.
The other pitchers on the team are Allie Pellizzaro, Stephanie Evans and Thalia Wilson.
"Most of our team has been together for four years, and next year we should also be strong,'' Fanucchi said. "Hopefully, we can do well in the round robin and advance to the playoffs.''
Devils' coach Bruce Lubinich was happy about how his team finished the provincials.
"At the end of the provincials, we started hitting the type of pitching that we will see at the nationals,'' Lubinich said.
"As a team, this is our last shot at the nationals. I think we are ready to go.
"Our pitching and defence has been solid for us all year. We will have an opportunity to hit against some good pitching in our opener as we play the top-seeded Ontario team, and I'm sure that we'll be facing the team's No. 1 pitcher.''
Sarah Chow, Mckenzie Smith, Olivia Tubman and Emily Newman, all from the Devils, and Peterson will all be attending United States schools in the fall.
"The Rebels had a very good provincials,'' Lubinich said.
"Their No. 1 pitcher [Olender] really carried them. They have a very scrappy team, and I think that they will do well at the nationals.''
