The St. Albert Cardinals exceeded expectations this year as semifinalists at the Baseball Alberta bantam competitive Tier I provincials.
The host team finished 23-11 overall after dropping a 12-5 playoff decision to the Strathmore Reds, the eventual tournament champions at Legion Memorial Park.
“The season has been a lot better than everybody expected,” said third-baseman/catcher Jordan Scott. “All the teams doubted us this year but we made it to the semifinals.”
Saturday the Cardinals doubled South Jasper Place 12-6 and hung on to edge Grande Prairie 11-10 in the pool B round robin draw.
“It was a good tournament. Everyone did great,” Scott said.
Cody Nykolyszyn, James Robillard, Axel Karl and Alex Marthiensen took turns on the mound against South Jasper Place.
“That was probably the best game to win of the year,” Scott said. “We have some anger with that team. It’s a rivalry.”
The back-and-forth affair against Grande Prairie went down to the wire. The Cardinals jumped ahead by one run in the bottom of the sixth and in the top of the seventh sealed the deal by standing runners in scoring position.
Colton Timmer, Tyler Yaremchuk, Ian Pollard and Riley Fetter threw strikes in the win.
“The kids were pumped for that game but playing in this heat they very quickly got unpumped. It was just a matter of who was left standing at the end from the heat,” said field manager Ross Yaremchuk.
In the semifinals against Strathmore, winners of the Doc Plotsky tournament by a 7-6 score against the Cardinals in June, the pool A leaders pushed three runs across in their first at-bat.
The Cardinals replied in the bottom of the first with runs by Ben Grabia, Jordan Kroeker and Scott, who tied it up by sliding home from third base on a wild pitch with two out.
Strathmore regained the lead with a one-out single in the second. A double play ended the inning.
A couple of fielding miscues in the third resulted in two Strathmore runs before the Cardinals turned another double play.
In the fourth, and with two Reds on base, Timmer ended the inning with a strikeout.
The Cardinals were unable to capitalize with runners on base in the bottom of the fourth. In the fifth they went down in order for the second time in the game.
In the sixth Karl replaced Timmer with one out and a runner at second base. The Cardinals escaped without surrendering a run on a grounder to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, Scott singled to open the inning and with one out Robbie Sullivan drew a walk. Both Cardinals scored on throwing errors.
“No one had given up at that point. Everyone was still going strong,” Scott said.
Strathmore broke the game open in the seventh, in large part to consecutive walks to start the inning. With one out, back-to-back RBI singles, followed by a passed ball, extended the lead to 9-5.
Strathmore added three more runs before the dust settled.
Robillard entered the game with the bases loaded and one out and Strathmore leading by six.
The Cardinals filled the bases in their last at-bat but were unable to score.
“We just couldn’t get the job done with our bats,” Yaremchuk said. “Give Strathmore credit. They started their No. 1 pitcher and they’re a tough team to beat.”
Scott, 14, said the Cardinals played a good game overall.
“It was just a couple of little errors that could have been fixed but that’s about it,” said the Grade 10 Paul Kane High School student. “If we had that one extra little inning we could’ve made it.”
Yaremchuk was satisfied by the team’s performance this year despite the season-ending loss.
“The team had a lot of talented players who were on the cusp of the AAA team,” he said. “It was a great group of kids. They wanted to come play and learn.”
