A lot was on the line in the gold medal game of the first ever charity Island Softball Tournament held this past weekend outside the civic centre - $1,000 to be exact.
With 10 corporate-based teams in the running for donating $1,000 to the charity of their choice, Port Edward Harbour Authority (PEHA) and Broadwater Industries met up in the final on Sunday afternoon.
With Broadwater pulling off a thrilling semi-finals win over Keller Canada just minutes before, the Broadwater group took the mound once again to challenge PEHA, who had beaten them a day before, 9-1.
“We just have great volunteers and as a non-profit organization, we depend on our volunteers and the people who can help out, so we’re really grateful to these guys. We had a great team put together and they just played their hearts out for a great cause,” said Tammy Dickens, manager of the winning PEHA team.
By beating Broadwater in the final in six innings 20-7, PEHA was able to donate $1,000 through the 2015 Island Softball Tournament to the North Coast Transition Society.
Team members needed to be either with the organization or company that the team was from or a family member of an employee or volunteer of that group. However, some teams did have additions to fill out their rosters not affiliated with the organization.
The tournament was the brainchild of Ridley Terminal’s Amy Lashek and Prince Rupert Grain’s Forrest Shale and of the rivalry between the two industrial companies.
“Ridley and Grain always wanted to play each other, so we decided to get a tournament going and do something for charity,” said Lashek, who added the tourney will be annual going forward.
The competition was complete with customized hats and T-shirts for each team with a newly-created logo and each squad wore a different colour.
“We’re also hoping to run a curling tournament as well,” said Lashek.
Organizations looking to take part in next year’s softball tournament or a potential curling tourney can reach Lashek at 250-600-0241 or Shale at 250-922-4213.