Officially, the 2025 Cochrane Fusion U15 softball team will be recorded as one of the 12 best softball teams in all the province.
The Fusion powered their way to a first-place finish at the Calgary City Championships, and then won the Central Zone Championships to earn a place among the best teams in Alberta at the 2025 Alberta Provincial Championships this past weekend in Wainwright.
In the end, the competition appeared too stiff. The Fusion failed to win a game at provincials and finished ninth among the 12 teams who qualified for the tournament. Although the outcome was probably not what the players dreamt of, their coach was happy with the season, and happy with the team's effort at the provincial tournament.
“Overall the girls had a really good season and provincials was a good experience," said Fusion head coach Melissa O’Reilly. “Even though we didn’t win … I think they had a really good weekend.”
For many sports, provincial tournaments are bonus games tacked on at the end of the season and are almost always awarded via exceptional play. Teams must qualify for them, and qualification comes only when they prove they’re the best teams of any given region.
Twice over the Fusion proved themselves to be the best team-- both of their league and the central zone-- a fact that helped to lessen the sting of losing out at provincials. But from a coaches perspective, a season is about more than just wins and losses. O’Reilly, who had led the Fusion to provincials in her first season as coach of the team, said that she has always been more focused on the development of the players.
“If I could show [the players] a picture of themselves in their first game of the season compared to the last game and show them how much they’ve grown … for me it’s all about the development,” she said. “Winning is always a bonus but it’s never a goal.”
Last season O’Reilly coached the U13 team. She said the U15 age level is a precarious one because it's the age range that organizations tend to lose players at. In some cases girls will stop playing softball and play a different sport, or some will drift off and elect to do something else.
“It’s pretty sad,” O’Reilly said. “You learn about leadership and other skills [playing softball], it’s important girls have these opportunities.” Another challenge O’Reilly and the Fusion faced this season was lack of tournaments, an issue that O’Reilly said was endemic to the age group.
The Fusion played against teams in Calgary and Airdrie as part of their league play, but when it came to finding tournaments to play in, it was nearly impossible. Before the season started O’Reilly applied for 12 tournaments. The Fusion got into one.
The reason for this, O’Reilly believes, is that rural teams end up applying for a lot of tournaments to compensate for the lack of league play.
“There is a lot of this age group,” she said. “There is less ability to play different teams when you play in a small town.”
Next year will be a different Fusion team entirely. Half the players will graduate into U17 and O’Reilly herself will coach either U13 or U15. O’Reilly will continue to coach, and hopes that players continue to play.
“The biggest reward [as a coach] is to see these girls play a sport they love … I don’t care what it is, I just want to see them continue to play,” she said. “I really love to see girls continue to grow and have a love for the game, that’s the reward for me.”
