The St. Albert Minor Baseball Association is rolling out the red carpet for baseball comedian Domingo Ayala at the Western Canada Baseball AA Championships.
The YouTube star brings his unique act to Legion Memorial Park on Thursday and will be appearing from 6:30 to 8 p.m., followed by a meet-and-greet and autograph session.
Gate admission is $20.
Ayala’s bio, according to his website at www.domingpbeisbol.com, is as follows:
“Domingo Ayala was born and raised in Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic sometime between 1978 and 1988 (records have not been verified). At a young age, with the influence of his cousin and longtime baseball coach, Vladimir Ayala, Domingo began to excel at the game of baseball. In the Dominican Republic, Domingo has been a seven-time Infielder of the Year and six-time Outfielder of the Year award winner (two years overlapping when he played both shortstop and leftfield in order to hit twice in the lineup).”
Westerns start 9 a.m. Friday in the U18 midget, U15 bantam and U13 peewee divisions and the finals are 3 p.m. Sunday or 6 p.m. if there are tiebreakers.
Representing SAMBA at westerns are midget AA Cardinals Red (46-5-1) – back-to-back Baseball Alberta Tier I champions and 2015 western silver medallists – bantam AA Cardinals Red and peewee AA Cardinals Red.
The midget teams include the Oak River Bearcats, the defending champions from Manitoba, North Battleford Beavers, Lacombe Dodgers (Alberta host) and a B.C. team.
The Portage Phillies and Swift Current have been confirmed for the bantam draw and the Winkler Diamond Dogs and Prince Albert Royals have qualified for the peewee tournament.
Visit.www.stalbertbaseball.com or www.ballcharts.com/wcba for the schedules and results.
This is the second year in a row SAMBA is hosting westerns.
St. Albert Cardinals Blue finished first overall at the Baseball Alberta midget AA Tier III championship.
The Cardinals defeated the Fort Saskatchewan Red Sox 8-3 in Sunday’s final after losing the tournament opener to the Fort 11-4.
According to the Baseball Alberta website, the Cardinals were 3-2-1 in the playdowns and 5-9-1 in Tier III overall before provincials.
The peewee AAA St. Albert Cardinals will play at the U13 westerns, starting Friday in Saskatoon.
The eight-team draw includes the Parkland Twins, Swift Current Indians, Saskatoon Blitz, Sask Five Giants, two Manitoba teams and the B.C. rep.
The Cardinals are coming off a third-place showing and 3-2 record at the Baseball Alberta Tier I championship last weekend in Sherwood Park.
The Cardinals out-slugged the Red Deer Braves 11-10 for a berth at westerns after dropping a 6-1 decision to Red Deer in their tournament opener.
The Cardinals join Parkland as the Alberta reps at westerns. Parkland lost the provincial final to the Calgary Cubs 21-10.
The Cardinals (25-7) finished second behind the Cubs (26-1) in the overall Baseball Alberta league standings.
The host team for the U15 bantam AA westerns in St. Albert is competing at the Baseball Alberta Tier I championship this weekend in Grande Prairie.
The Cardinals are seeded fourth in the eight-team draw after going 4-3 in the final playdown round and their Baseball Alberta league record is 13-7.
The Cardinals also placed second at the Valley of Champions tournament last month in Kelowna.
The roster features four returning players and six second-year bantams.
Four players on the team also participated in last year’s westerns at Legion Memorial Park.
The St. Albert Senior (30-plus) Cardinals host game two in the Alberta West Central Baseball Association playoffs Tuesday.
First pitch is 7 p.m. against the Westlock Red Lions at Legion Memorial Park.
The best-of-three series opener was played Thursday in Westlock but the score was unavailable at press time.
Game three, if needed, is 7 p.m. Wednesday in St. Albert.
The Cardinals (9-6) and Westlock (10-7) finished second and third, respectively, in the eight-team standings.
The winner plays the Fort Saskatchewan Red Sox (15-2) or Spruce Grove Eagles (9-7) for the Lloyd Marklinger Memorial Trophy. The Cardinals are the defending champions. Last year they knocked off first-place Westlock in the third and deciding game in the final to finish 14-7-1 in league and playoffs combined.
The season was on the line Friday for the St. Albert Tigers in the Sunburst Baseball League playoffs.
The Tigers hosted the Red Deer Riggers in game two in the best-of-three semifinal after losing 10-2 Wednesday in Red Deer. Friday’s score was unavailable at press time.
Game three, if needed, is 7 p.m. Sunday in Red Deer.
The winner plays the Sherwood Park Athletics or Confederation Park Cubs in the best-of-five final to determine the Alberta rep for the 2016 Baseball Canada senior AAA championship.
The Athletics defeated Red Deer in last year’s Sunburst final.
This year the Tigers (6-13) placed fourth in the five-team standings. Red Deer (8-1) was first, followed by the Athletics (15-5) and Cubs (7-13).
The Tigers closed out league play in Monday’s doubleheader split with the Cubs.
