The Central Energy were crowned U16 ‘A’ Provincial champions last week as they defeated Smitty’s Terminators 4-1.

Portage’s Kylyn Shindle hit a two-run double to help lead them to the title. The Energy finished first place in the Manitoba Ladies Super Softball League with a record of 21-5 and carried that momentum through the postseason.

Assistant coach Graham Shindle says the girls have played together for a while but this is their most successful season yet.

“We’ve got girls that are used to winning but we hadn’t got over the hump to win a provincial title yet,” says Shindle. “When our girls arrived in Stonewall, you could see in their faces, this time they were planning to finish the job. From the first day onward, they just put their noses down to the grindstone and really got on with a professional approach to winning games at that tournament.”

Shindle says they had to play ten games in a matter of four days and in that span they played three matches that went to extra innings. After the seven-game round-robin, the club had to play a 1st vs 2nd matchup with the Westman Magic that went 11 innings. Shindle notes that one was a huge test for the girls and it was amazing to overcome that.

In the finals, the Energy then beat the defending champions which made it that much more gratifying according to Shindle. He describes some of the biggest challenges the girls faced at Provincials and what it took to overcome them.

“It’s a tough go, it’s 30 degrees outside and girls are playing three games in a day,” explains Shindle. “It can be taxing on their bodies and it can be taxing on their mind and emotions. There’s a lot of swings back and forth. Finding a way to keep an even keel was probably the key for our girls.”

Shindle talks about how it felt to see everything come together.

“It was really rewarding when it was all said and done,” says Shindle. “Watching the girls run out onto the field and jump on each other and to know they put in almost 12 full months of working together. Practicing through the winter at Southport, playing most of our games in Portage. It takes an incredible commitment from both parents and players. There’s a lot of weeks we’re at the diamond 4-6 times and most of those times it’s anywhere from two and a half to five hours the girls are putting in at a time. There’s a ton of work that goes into it, so it’s really gratifying for parents and coaches to see the girls succeed like that.”