They beat North Fraser of Burnaby 6-1 in the gold medal game. Payton Godwin of Maple Ridge was the story of the game as the starting pitcher. The Grade 12 had separated his pitching-arm shoulder before the season started, and missed the first half of the campaign. So he had only pitched a handful of innings before he took the mound in the gold medal game.
“We babied him - we wanted to save him,” said coach Derek Doucette.
It turned out to be a good strategy. Godwin was ready to dominate, and he threw a complete seven innings, allowed five hits, struck out five, and led his team to victory.
“He threw the last pitch, it was caught in the outfield, and was mobbed by his teammates,” recalled Doucette.
