Sunny skies and seven teams on the fields in Dartmouth, as CFB Halifax hosted both the women’s and men’s Atlantic region slo-pitch championship September 9 to 12.
14 Wing Greenwood’s women opened the tournament September 9, taking on Formation Halifax. Greenwood came out strong, winning the first three innings with great hits and fielding, before the Mariners came back just as strong – and taking a 13-4 win.
In the afternoon, Greenwood won its Game 2 over the 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown Warriors 16-11, all a result of changes from the morning game to build a better defence. With patience at the plate, better base running and getting runners into position, bigger hitters brought them home.
The women met Gagetown again in the play-off game September 11, hoping for a win to get to the Friday final against Formation Halifax. It wasn’t to be: three Greenwood athletes were called back to work to respond to operational requirements, and Gagetown put together a solid fielding effort to run away with the game. Greenwood’s short stop and second base players made some clutch double plays to keep the team in it as long as possible, but their lone run came in the last inning. It was a tough loss, and not a reflection of the effort. The women resolved to see the tournament out cheering on the 14 Wing men’s team in their week-ending final.
14 Wing Greenwood’s men’s slo pitch team had an uneven start at regionals, coming off national Canadian Armed Forces silver in 2024. Their first game September 9 was a hard 17-2 loss to the CFB Halifax Mariners, followed by a September 10 13-10 win over the 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown Warriors.
Game 3 September 10 turned the tide, with a 13-10 win over the 12 Wing Shearwater Flyers. That put the Bombers as second seed, and into a double-chance opportunity to make the final. They didn’t need it, taking a play-off game 14-10 over Halifax to bye their way straight through, and forcing Halifax into that second-chance afternoon play-off. In that play-off, Gagetown came out on top to take the other half of the final’s spots.
The September 12 final saw the Bombers down early, trailing 10-2 in the fourth. They battled back to tie the game 10-10 by the bottom of the seventh. In extra innings, the Gagetown Warriors scored one run in the top of the eighth and ninth, with Greenwood countering to tie the game each inning – with opportunities to walk off with a win in each of the innings, but coming up short. Gagetown broke it open in the top of the 10th with 15 runs to win the regional gold 27-12, leaving Greenwood with the silver.
