The St. Albert Cardinals will defend their Baseball Alberta midget AAA Tier I championship on their home field this weekend at Legion Memorial Park.
In pool B, the Cardinals are up to bat at 9 a.m. Friday against SEEBA and Saturday they play the Calgary Dinos at 10 a.m. and Okotoks Dawgs Black at 7 p.m.
Pool A consists of Okotoks Dawgs Red, the top seed, Spruce Grove White Sox, Calgary Rockies and Sherwood Park A’s.
If there are no tiebreakers in the pool play, Sunday’s semifinals are 9 a.m. and noon and the final is 3 p.m.
Visit www.baseballalberta.com or www.stalbertbaseball.com for the schedule and results.
The opening ceremonies are 6 p.m. Friday.
The Cardinals finished 17-9 in the NorWest league, which included only one loss at home, but won their last game 5-2 over the A’s in St. Albert last Wednesday to clinch a provincial berth. They were awarded provincial host rights the next day.
A loss would have sent the 2014 Baseball Canada U18 national silver medallists to last weekend’s nine-team qualification tournament in Fort McMurray to determine the last two teams in the provincial draw. SEEBA and the A’s prevailed for provincial spots.
The provincial champion advances to nationals, Aug. 13 to 17 in Magog, Que.
Last year at Magog, the Cardinals lost the final 16-6 in the rain against an all-star team representing Quebec.
The Red Birds finished 4-2 in their first trip to nationals since 2008.
The team’s overall record was 47-16 as the first U18 medallist from St. Albert since the 2004 nationals as the host team.
This year’s edition of Cardinals features 11 returning players on the 19-man roster.
The St. Albert Cardinals Red is the host team for the Baseball Alberta mosquito (10-11) AA Tier I championship this weekend at Legion Memorial Park.
The Cardinals are ranked first in the eight-team draw.
In pool A, the Cardinals play South Jasper Place Black (No. 5) at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s game times are noon against Spruce Grove (No. 8) and 6 p.m. against Red Deer (No. 4).
Pool B consists of Camrose Royal (No. 2), Sherwood Park Gold (No. 3), Okotoks Orange (No. 6) and Fort McMurray (No. 7).
If there are no tiebreakers, Sunday’s semifinals are 9 a.m. and noon and the final is 3 p.m.
Visit www.baseballalberta.com or www.stalbertbaseball.com for the schedule and results.
The Cardinals finished 6-1 in the provincial round and are 20-6 overall. They also reached semifinals in both tournaments this year.
A victory by the Sherwood Park A’s against the first-place Okotoks Dawgs Black on the last day of league play relegated the St. Albert Cardinals into the Baseball Alberta bantam AAA Tier II tournament.
The Cardinals (14-13 provincial, 18-15 overall) kept their Tier I hopes alive when they mercied the South Jasper Place Jays 13-1 and 11-1 Saturday at Legion Memorial Park, but needed Okotoks (20-4-2 provincial round, 27-4-2 overall) to win all three games against the A’s (15-12 provincial round, 27-4-2 overall) in Sherwood Park last weekend.
The four-team Tier II championship starts Friday in Okotoks and the Cardinals play the Jays (2-24 provincial round, 2-31 overall) at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday’s game times are noon against Okotoks Dawgs Red (4-20-3 provincial round, 5-27-3 overall) and 6:30 p.m. against SEEBA (6-21 provincial round, 9-25 overall).
Sunday’s final, if there are no tiebreakers, starts at noon.
Visit www.baseballalberta.com or www.stalbertbaseball.com for the schedule and results.
The Cardinals finished 9-1 in July after sweeping the Jays.
Logan McKinley struck-out six during a complete-game, five-inning stint in the opener. The Jays’ run was unearned. Davis Pratt also knocked in three runs.
In game two, Tom Leathem worked five innings while give up one earned run and Pratt was perfect during one inning of relief. Michael Brisson also had three RBIs and stole three bases.
