Coming within a stitch and a pitch of all-Canadian gold, Taylor Weber is the proud new owner of a national silver medal this week.
The Mount Forest athlete joined the Chepstow Novice Diamonds for the summer as a fleet-footed centrefielder, and helped her team rocket in one short week from the provincial to the national championships.
Chepstow entered the Novice Tier II Grand Championship in Vaughan on August 6-8, and went undefeated in defeating Brampton 5-2, the Windsor Wildcats 6-2, Stratford Flames 5-4 and Whitby Eagles 6-3. In a rematch for their final, the Diamonds tamed the Wildcats 9-2 to take the provincial gold.
Great defence, fantastic pitching, clutch hitting and aggressive base running were all keys to their success, and the top-four finish earned the girls the right to compete at the national tournament. Home on the Sunday night, the team was back on the road the following Tuesday, bound for Montreal.
“Getting to the nationals was unexpected,” Taylor said. “Having just won provincials and then moving on, it was quite an experience.”
In Quebec for the Aug. 11-15 event, the Diamonds went 5-1 in round robin play. Weber and her crew stomped P.E.I. 13-1 and silenced Orleans 10-0 to open their run. They then attended the tournament banquet for players and coaches, which was a highlight and let everyone know who the girls from tiny Chepstow in rural Bruce County were.
On the Thursday morning, the Diamonds lost 8-4 to the Statford Flames and, later that day, dominated Cole Harbor Nova Scotia 12-2. On the Friday, they trounced Quebec 14-2 and then stoned Nova Scotia Celhdi Storm 7-0.
A second place finish out of 12 teams gave the locals two lives in the playoff round, and they opened in fine form with a 4-0 shutout over Stratford. The win set the locals up against the Windsor Lady Expos, for the right to advance to the gold medal game. The Diamonds fought hard, but fell short 6-3.
When Manitoba stopped Stratford in their qualifier, the locals knew they were in for a tough test to get to the final. Chepstow came out strong and defeated Manitoba 6-2, setting up a winner-take-all showdown for the national crown between the Diamonds and the Windsor Lady Expos.
The girls were about as evenly matched as two teams can get and, after seven innings, the score was knotted in a 1-1 pitching duel. International rule was applied in extra innings, and Chepstow went up by two runs in the top of the eighth inning.
“The last game was quite the nailbiter,” admitted Weber.
Proving to be a quality opponent, the Lady Expos battled back to even the score at 3-3. Then, in the bottom of the tenth inning, Windsor pushed the winning run ahead and secured the silver place finish for the whirlwind Chepstow season.
Overall for 2010, the Novice Diamonds won four gold, two silver and one bronze medal in tournament play, and can be extremely proud of their accomplishments this season.