The St. Albert Cardinals have work to do during their business trip to nationals in Summerside, P.E.I.
“The goal is to win gold,” stressed Max Kahler, an infielder for the Baseball Alberta bantam AAA Tier I champions.
“Obviously our expectations are to go over there and win it all,” added Evan Bourassa, the team’s catcher and leadoff batter. “We want to play our best baseball of the year and keep on improving after provincials because that was a great tournament for us. We played really well the whole time.”
The U15 Baseball Canada competition starts Thursday for the first St. Albert Minor Baseball Association bantam AAA team at nationals since 2007.
“Everybody is really excited to get down there as the day gets closer. I know I’ve been counting down the days,” Kahler said.
In pool B the Cardinals play Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the host Summerside team.
“We really want to get there and get that first game (against Newfoundland) out of the way,” Bourassa said. “I think we’re set up to do pretty well. We’ve got a couple of new kids that we picked up who pitched well against us so they should pitch well for us as well.”
Several players have national experience with the 2014 peewee AAA Cardinals in London, Ont.
“It will help more off the field in keeping us prepared for the games, not wasting energy off the field and getting good rests,” Bourassa said. “We finished fourth (at U13 nationals) and obviously we would like to improve on that.”
The team’s success starts on the mound.
“We have a lot of left-handed pitchers so that’s been a good help,” Bourassa said. “We’ve got a good starting rotation and we’ve got plenty of guys that come with a different variety of pitches out of the bullpen as well so overall we’ve got a very good mix of pitchers.”
The Cardinals are also fearless on the basepaths with basically a green light to steal on every pitch.
“We’re really aggressive on the bases, which helps us score a few more runs,” Kahler said.
The strength of the team is the bench, according to Bourassa, 15.
“Everybody is ready to go and contribute whenever their name is called and that’s a key part of our team, honestly,” said the Grade 10 Bellerose Composite High School student.
The Cardinals are still flying high after their electrifying come-from-behind 8-6 victory in the provincial final over Okotoks Dawgs Black, last year’s champion, Aug. 1 in Spruce Grove.
“The overall mood of the team is really good,” Bourassa said. “That feeling of winning provincials is still in the back of your mind, just how good that felt and how much better winning nationals will feel.”
The Cardinals are an unofficial 29-9 after going 4-1 at provincials as the No. 1 seed with a record of 21-6 in the playdown round.
“We really came together as a team. We beared down when we had to and got it done,” Kahler said.
In the provincial final, the Cardinals were three outs away from going to westerns in Spruce Grove instead of the Maritimes after Okotoks erased a three-run deficit to lead by two.
However, in the top of the seventh the Cardinals pushed four runs across, highlighted by Kahler’s clutch pinch-hit two-run single with two out to break a 6-6 tie.
The tension-filled affair ended on a double play by the Cardinals with the bases loaded.
Kahler hasn’t slept a wink since delivering the most important hit of his baseball career.
“I’m still thinking about it. It’s definitely something you would only dream of to do.”
It was only Kahler’s second at-bat in the tournament and the count was 1-0 when he stroked a fastball up the middle for the go-ahead runs.
“A lot of stuff was definitely going through my head when I got up there, especially coming off the bench. I was nervous but excited at the same time and then after I got on base and the two runs scored I was on cloud nine,” said the Grade 10 Bellerose student who turns 15 next Saturday at nationals, when the Cardinals play Summerside to end pool play.
Visit www.baseball.ca or the team’s web page at www.stalbertbaseball.com for results.
