The early season growing pains continue for the midget AAA Cardinals, this time with a 12-7 loss to the Sherwood Park Gold (3-0) on Wednesday.
With the rain making for a slippery ball diamond, the Cardinals gave up a huge first inning to Sherwood Park, letting six batters cross home plate. Allowing the opposing team to run up a big lead from the first bat is a problem area for the squad, according to head coach Chamara Jayasekera.
“That has been the problem inning for us this year. The more we start to play, the more they start to figure out how to play from the start,” said Jayasekera. "With the young team that we have, I’m sure we are going to figure that out. That’s what our game is about, being able to play those 21 outs.”
Despite the slow start, the Cardinals were able to out score their opponents 7-6 for the reminder of the game. The hard-nosed grind displayed by the team in the face of a deficit is the reason the Cardinals coaching staff is excited about its potential.
“For us it’s a matter of coming off that first inning and doing what we do. We swing that bat when we need to. We know how to get the guys moving. It’s just a matter of controlling what we can and staying ahead,’ said Jayasekera.
After seven games in the Norwest Baseball League, the Cardinals have posted a record of 1-9, which places them in ninth place out of 11 teams in the league. While the early season standings might point in the direction of a team in a rut, Jayasekera believes it is too early to gauge a team’s success for the rest of the year.
“It’s still early in the season, so we can still lose all the way and still make provincials,” said Jayasekera. “For us it’s about giving a good performance on the field in terms of what we can control and I think if we do that we will start to see our share of wins.”
The Cardinals will hit the ball diamonds next against Red Deer (5-3) on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Legion Memorial Field. If the Cardinals hope to come out on top against Red Deer, they will have to figure out their placement on the diamond.
“We go out there to win, we don’t go out there to lose. If we do what we can in terms of positioning early, we will start to see some of those good things happen. In terms of this stage, I’m not worried at all,’ said Jayasekera.
