The seamless transition between winning seasons has the St. Albert Cardinals on the same trajectory as championship contenders.
The Cardinals rank among the top teams in the Norwest midget AAA circuit at 11-2 with 14 returnees from last year’s Baseball Alberta Tier I semifinalists that finished 30-3 in league play and 41-14 overall.
“We’ve battled as a team pretty good,” said shortstop Mike Brisson. “We’ve been playing together for a long time. We’re a real tight group so we’ve played pretty well as a team. We hit really well, we pitch well, we play good defence and we just pick everyone up when they’re struggling.”
The chemistry is still there, according to pitcher Tom Leathem.
“We’re closer than ever really, even closer than last year, and that really shows this year,” said Leathem of the Cardinals, 15-5 in league, tournament and exhibition action. “We’re off to a pretty good start. We had a couple of hiccups here and there but we're playing really well together.
“Our offence has been pretty consistent. It took one or two games at the beginning of the season to get everyone to click but once everyone started to get going it was really explosive and it’s continued to be explosive.
“We’ve just got to stay consistent with all parts of the game,” Leathem added. “The defence needs to be consistent and pitching needs to be consistent. We can’t be walking guys, giving free passes, that kind of thing, so errors and pitching need to really get to a good spot and stay that way for the rest of the season.”
Last year’s provincial shortcoming at Legion Memorial Park included losses of 7-6 to the Sherwood Park Athletics in the last game in pool play and 6-1 to the Parkland Twins in the semifinals as the Red Birds struck out 11 times.
“It was a tough way to go out last year for sure but we’re going to put ourselves in the same position and try and go to nationals this year and hopefully make some noise there,” said Brisson of the U18 Baseball Canada championship, Aug. 16 to 19 in Fort McMurray.
The Cardinals and Parkland (12-4), the defending provincial champion, cross paths Tuesday at 7 p.m. in St. Albert.
“It’s a big game for us for sure. They’re a good team at the top of the league so it will be a good battle for us. Hopefully we’ll take another one and keep rolling,” Brisson said.
The first tilt between the two teams since provincials was rained out May 30 in Spruce Grove.
Hard feelings are still festering from provincials over the eligibility of Adam Macko, who tossed a four-hit gem without yielding a walk over six innings in the semifinal against the Cardinals, and Ben Erwin, who struck-out nine and walked four while giving up three hits in the 5-0 decision against the Athletics in the final. The Spruce Grove based players spent the season with the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball but were allowed to compete for Parkland at provincials as Baseball Alberta officials took heat from teams like the Cardinals at the tournament over the fact the Norwest league had no rules regarding minimum number of plate appearances or innings pitched in league play to be eligible for provincials.
The Twins finished fifth at nationals while Athletics were the Alberta reps at westerns.
“Last year we had a little bit of a rivalry going there with them,” Leathem said. “It will be a fun game.”
This weekend the Cardinals are in Sherwood Park for a pair of Norwest games today and two exhibitions Sunday against the Athletics (7-6).
Last weekend the Cardinals played three Norwest games at home and the scores were 8-3 against Calgary Dino’s Black (11-4), 12-4 loss to the Fort McMurray Oil Giants (11-6) and 10-5 win against the Northern Lights (11-2) of Grande Prairie.
The Cardinals pushed six runs across on six hits in the bottom of the sixth against Calgary to break a 2-2 deadlock.
Joe Karall, the leadoff batter for the Cardinals, collected three hits and Colton Girard added two during Friday’s 11-hit attack.
Karall also picked up the win in relief as Leathem started and then with one out in the fifth was replaced by Logan Blumhagen.
“We played a good team game and that was a good team,” said Brisson, who drove in two runs in the sixth.
In the next game, the Oil Giants scored four times in top of the second to lead 7-2.
Liam Froment was tagged for all seven runs on two hits while walking four and fanning three in 1-2/3 innings.
Josh Ironside and Tyson Kowaluk also worked in relief.
The Oil Giants finished Saturday’s win with eight hits while the Cardinals committed four errors and left eight men on base.
Tylor Jans, an over-age Cardinal, cracked a two-run homer in the third to close the gap at 7-4. Jans batted2-for-3 overall with four RBIs.
The Cardinals were missing several players against the Oil Giants because of off-field commitments, including the Bellerose Composite High School grad, and injuries.
“We didn’t play very well,” said Brisson, who scored twice and doubled once. “That was a tough one for us.”
Later in the day, the Cardinals rallied from a 5-3 deficit with five runs in the fourth against the Northern Lights.
The Cardinals out-hit the visitors 12-8 with Brisson and Zach Froment leading the way with one single and one double apiece. Froment also tossed an eight-hitter while surrendering five runs (three earned) over six innings.
Kade Knight also knocked in two runs.
“We came out stronger than we did in the first game (against the Oil Giants). We played well. It was good,” said Brisson, 16.
The Grade 11 St. Albert Catholic High School student is lighting it up in his second midget AAA season and is among the Norwest leaders in slugging percentage (.744), RBIs (15), hits (17), doubles (eight), runs (18) and stolen bases (12).
“I struggled earlier in the year with the Prospects Academy but so far this early summer here I’ve been doing really well. I've got my confidence back, which is big for me. I need to play with confidence and I need to have fun overall. It’s a game so you’ve got to have fun and when I have fun I do really well,” said Brisson, who has high hopes of making Team Alberta for the U17 Baseball Canada Cup, Aug. 8 to 12 in Moncton, N.B.
Next weekend the Cardinals will strut their stuff at the annual Tigers Baseball Association tournament and the last year against the senior AAA Tabbies with bragging rights on the line lost 10-6 in the Saturday night feature game.
“It’s always fun between the hometown Tigers and the hometown Cardinals. That’s always a good game. Lots of people come out so it's always an exciting tournament,” said Leatham, 18, a reliable hurler who turned in a solid performance against Calgary with one earned run during a three-hitter over 4-1/3 innings, with two strikeouts and two walks.
“Location wise I haven’t been walking too many people and I've been happy with that,” said the Grade 12 Bellerose student.
