The popular Aunt Rosies International Fastpitch tournament went off as planned last weekend and the New Era Diamond Girls faced a tough schedule of opponents.
On Friday afternoon they played a very talented Amherst Lightning Covel Team in their opener and won that game 6-3. The Diamond Girls came out hot in the first inning scoring five runs and playing solid defense.
Game two they played the CNY Wildcats from Central NY. The Diamond Girls played a tight one until they broke it open in the 6th with a three run inning and held on to the victory.
On Saturday they came back to play the Brantford team from Canada and won that game in a 1-0 defensive battle. Later that evening when the Diamond Girls returned from an afternoon break they played Hunts Hurricanes to a 6-6 tie under the lights. Only to find out this team had several ineligible players in the game, rumor had it their was a 25 year old and two 22 year old players on the field. They were eventually disqualified from the tournament
On Sunday they came back for a match up vs. the eventual champion Scarborough Rays. The Diamond Girls held on to a 1-1 tie through 5 innings of softball. Then a couple of batted balls found there way through the infield for two base hits. Then the shot that would give the Rays the lead for good came, 4-1 was the final on a well played game by both teams. The Rays sent three girls from their roster off to the Canadian National team right after the game in British Columbia.
On Monday the playoffs came and the Diamond Girls battled there way through two games winning them both to rematch with the Rays.
The Diamond Girls had a 2-0 lead, which should have been 4 or more but "some poor calls got in there way and may have changed the outcome of the game" according to some avid bystanders. In any event the Rays, a good team top to bottom, put up a couple of runs deep into the game and sent the Diamond Girls home for the remainder of the Fourth of July.
If I remember correctly the Diamond Girls played the Rays in the Fall at the Blue Chip Can/Am tournament in West Seneca and were victorious.
One of the Assistant coaches of the Rays was heard saying "this was the best team we played in this tournament"
Hats off to the New Era Diamond Girls DelPrince team for an outstanding effort this past weekend at a fantastic tournament!
