The first few games of any sports team can set the tone for the rest of the season. The Drumheller Rage have already made it clear they’re looking for more gold.
The Rage, Drumheller’s bantam girls softball team, are looking at another grand slam season. In their first four games of the season, the Rage have already picked up three wins.
On Saturday, the Rage opened their season versus South Bow River 2. The weather was windy and cold, but the Rage prevailed with a colossal 23-9 win.
Their second game was a rematch of last year’s Provincial Gold Medal game against the West Valley Sliders. The game was back and forth the Rage eventually ended up just short in the final inning, losing 11-10.
The team didn’t let that bring them down and picked up two wins on Sunday versus both South Bow River teams, 18-6 and 16-6.
The Rage are off to a great start, despite not having been able to practice outdoors until the weather warmed up last week.
“We’re doing pretty good, considering we only had about an hour of outdoor practice. Otherwise, we’ve had to spend the past couple months inside throwing the ball around,” said Shari Fournier, head coach of the Rage. “Considering the late start, we haven’t done too bad.”
Last season, the Rage was a powerhouse. The team took provincial gold in their own backyard, when Provincials were held at the Newcastle ball diamonds.
Unfortunately for softball lovers, the team plays in Calgary and may only have a couple games in the Valley.
“We’ve been looking at having a tournament again, but umpires are so hard to find. We couldn’t get any umpires for the weekend we had planned, so we probably won’t have a tournament this year. There are a couple of teams out of Calgary looking to come and play some exhibition games here. It’ll be nice, because that way the girls will have some home games and their families and friends can come and watch,” said Fournier.
The girls are excited to finally get back on the field.
“They’re pretty excited to get league started. I think they’re ready and they know what they have to do,” said Fournier. “They worked really hard last year and saw the fruits of their labour.”
