Can you think of a better way to wrap up a gold medal game than a grand slam?

After going through the playoffs undefeated, the U12 Cochrane Chaos broke a tie in the dying minutes of the July 25 final to strike gold in the Calgary Minor Softball Association.

The Chaos was the home team against Calgary Southbow River and it was tied 14-14 heading into the final inning.  

"The defensive inning they put in was so impressive," says Coach Alison Clayton. "They were doing things that I haven't see them do all year. It was incredible."

With about 11 minutes remaining in the timed game, the bats of the Chaos went to work.

It was Kinley Morrow who stole home for the game-winner. Then, the Chaos loaded the bases to set the stage for Maeve Clayton to crack a grand slam just before time ran out.

"We had an awesome cheer. It was so fun, given the year that these players have had, and their age level. Most of them are coming out of grade 6, and that would have been the year they started playing school sports, so they kind of missed all that.

"To be able to compete again and watch these girls find that competitive fire was so much fun. You could just see it in their eyes. In the last couple of innings, they were just like, "We're doing this. Let's go!"

To advance to the final, they won their first two games in the double knockout. They won their first game on July 19 by one run, then scored a lopsided 20-9 win in the semi-finals against Calgary Southbow River on July 21.

"We had an excellent game. We were really on our bats. We did some batting practice and stuff and worked on it, so the girls hit awesome."

Because it was a double-knockout, Southbow was able to work their way back to face the Chaos in the final.

The team was formed by 12 players from the two U12 spring league teams who expressed interest in playing in a summer league.

Clayton coached the team with Jeremy Morrow.

Two other Cochrane girls' softball teams advanced to their divisional gold medal games.

On July 22, the U10 Redbull Devils went two extra innings but came out on the short side to the Airdrie Angels and returned home with silver.

The U16 girls' team is hosting their divisional gold medal game on Wednesday night (July 28) at the Gleneagles diamond at 6 p.m.

U10 Cochrane softball teamThe U10 Cochrane Redbull Devils won the silver medal after an exciting matchup against the Airdrie Angels that took two extra innings to decide.