The North Shore Stars 98 of the North Shore Girls Fastpitch Association were crowned British Columbia champions in the Squirt B category after posting a perfect 8-0 record at the provincial championships held July 16-18 in Surrey.

The tournament win capped off a perfect season for the girls who posted a record of 27 wins and zero losses while winning the Lower Mainland Cup and provincial title.

The team's tournament victory in Surrey was made all the more remarkable by the fact that they finished the tournament with only nine healthy players -- just enough to field a full team.

In the final the Stars took on the Surrey Storm in an intense matchup. Tied 0-0 through four innings, the Stars took a 2-0 lead in the fifth only to fall behind 3-2 in the top of the sixth. The Stars answered back with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth and then survived a late push from Surrey in the final inning to strand a runner on third and take the title with a 4-3 win.

The Squirt B division is made up of rep teams of 11- and 12-year-olds assembled by districts around the province.

- - -

North Shore Fastpitch's Bantam (15-16) C Avalanche also picked up provincial hardware, claiming silver in Salmo after an epic day of softball.

The Avalanche went undefeated in pool play at the July 11-12 tournament but a playoff loss to Cloverdale to start the championship's final day sent them into the loser's bracket. Immediately following the loss the team went on to win three games in a row, culminating in an 18-6 win over the same Cloverdale team that knocked them off earlier that day. That string of victories put them into the tournament final, their fifth game of the day.

Facing the Fleetwood Outlaws in the championship game, the Avalanche scored three runs early before the Outlaws battled back to take a 4-3 lead in the fifth.

Down to their final out of the tournament, the Avalanche got a triple from Natasha Clayton who was then driven in by a single from Katherine Karr to send the game to extra innings.

Fine defence kept the Avalanche alive as the extra innings progressed and the team appeared poised to win when they scored five runs in the top of the 10th inning. The Outlaws, however, answered back with five runs of their own to keep the game going. Finally in the 13th inning Fleetwood scored on a sacrifice fly to end the game and take the title.

North Shore pitcher Maddy Jones ended the day with 38 innings thrown, toeing the rubber for all but three innings in the team's five games on the final day. -- Andy Prest