Two big innings were all it took to for the Parkland Twins to defeat the Cardinals on Wednesday night.
The Midget AAA Cardinals fell behind early in the game and were not able to overcome the Parkland Twins’ offensive prowess, ending the game with a final score of 7-3.
The red birds dropped four runs out of the gate and could only counter with a run of their own to end the first inning. The opponents played a hard-hitting game, aggressively stealing bases and taking advantage of every field error.
“We dug ourselves a hole early and had a couple opportunities to score and didn’t get it done at the plate,” Coach Cam Houston said. “If you give a team like that a few free passes the damage can get done.”
The home team managed to respond with one run when a hard hit to second by Conor Bronson sent Anthony Owen dashing home to safety.
The two teams stayed deadlocked through the next five rounds, each playing a tight defensive game. When the Cardinals were able to hit off the Twins’ pitching, they kept the outfielders busy with pop flies that resulted in easy outs.
“Our challenge is just getting some of the pitchers to command the zone a little better,” Houston said. “Also getting some of the young guys to hit more balls on the ground and battle a little more with two strikes.”
The game finally opened up in the bottom of the sixth when St. Albert battled back and earned two runs. Joseph Karall blistered the ball out to centre field, giving Bronson time to round third and make it home safely. The red birds continued to battle back and scored again by the end of the inning, putting them just one point behind the opponents.
St. Albert couldn’t keep up in the seventh inning when a few walks and field errors managed to load the bases. Robbie Holmes finished the action with a big hit to centre field that sent all three runners home.
The Cardinals currently sit in sixth place with nine regular season games left against tough opponents. They will need to stay above eighth place to make the playoffs.
“I think we will try to get ourselves rolling in the last games before playoffs and hopefully we can get enough wins to get ourselves in there,” Houston said. “We have a lot of games and a lot of guys will get the opportunity to step up and hopefully they do well.”
