STELLARTON – Caitlin Sandlock has spent enough time on the sandlot to know a thing or two about softball.
This will be her third year competing at provincials. Experience has taught her at this point in the season there is little more she and her teammates can do to prepare than they have already.
So Thursday she had only one thing more on her agenda.
“Sleeping,” she said.
The Subway Stingers Peewee A Girls will be hosting the 2010 Softball NS peewee A & B provincial Championships this weekend at the Dorrington Softball Complex in Stellarton beginning today at 6:30 p.m. at both Dorrington Fields.
Nine teams in total will be competing. Five will be in the Stingers division.
“There’s a lot of teams that we haven’t played against,” Sandlock said.
Playing at provincials only raises the intensity.
“It’s definitely nerve wracking when the games are close,” Sandlock said.
Coach Edwina Palmer said Cole Harbour will probably be their toughest competition. Although the girls have lost to them already this season, she believes her team can be competitive.
“They’re a great bunch of girls,” Palmer said. “They do whatever you ask them to do.”
The team has competed in three tournaments already this season which were all good preparation for this, she said.
Palmer believes pitching will be her team’s strength.
“We have two good pitchers (Hannah Williams and Kelyn Palmer),” she said. “That’s something we have an advantage of.”
It’s nice to be able to host the tournament at home, Palmer said, but it requires a lot of work.
On that end she gives a lot of credit to Dan and Sherry Richards.
“Anyone who volunteers knows how much time it takes to run any organization, but Danny and Sherry are certainly going above and beyond,” she said. “They are at the field every evening through the week and doing everything from working the canteen to mowing grass or sorting recyclables.”
Even away from the field they put in countless hours keeping Stellarton and Area Minor Girls Softball running smoothly.
“They take care of all the behind-the-scenes work including ordering uniforms and equipment, organizing tournaments, ordering stock for the canteen, taking care of all the finances as well as all those little extras that need to be done,” Palmer said.
It’s because of them that the ball program is as successful as it is and the girls have such a good a facility to play at, she said. She’s glad they get to show it off this weekend.
