The St. Albert Cardinals are hosting the Baseball Alberta peewee AAA Tier I championship this weekend at Legion Memorial Park.
The first game in the eight-team tournament is 9 a.m. Friday between the Cardinals (20-10) and Sherwood Park A's (22-9).
The opening ceremony will start between 5:15 and 5:30 p.m. Friday and the first pitch will be thrown by one of the participants in the Challenger Baseball program in the St. Albert Minor Baseball Association.
At 6 p.m. Friday the Cardinals are up to bat against the Red Deer Braves (20-11).
The Cardinals also play at noon on Saturday against the Okotoks Dawgs (23-6) and Sunday against the Camrose Cougars (21-8).
If there are no tiebreakers, the third-place game is 3 p.m. and the final is 6 p.m.
Visit www.baseballalberta.com or www.stalbertbaseball.com for the schedule.
The winner advances to the U13 Baseball Canada championship, Aug. 24 to 27 at Repentigny, Quebec and the second and third place teams qualify for westerns, Aug. 17 to 21 at Spruce Grove.
The Cardinals, 24-12 overall, are comprised of two returning players and three first-year peewees, including an underage player, and the balance of the roster is consists of second-year peewees from last year's AA program.
The road to a Tier I provincial three-peat and third consecutive trip to the U18 westerns for the midget AA St. Albert Cardinals starts Friday in Spruce Grove.
The Cardinals (16-2) play the Whitecourt Angels (8-9) at 9 a.m. in the eight-team Baseball Alberta tournament opener.
Saturday's games are 9 a.m. against the Parkland Twins (11-7) and 6 p.m. against the Leduc-based Black Gold Giants (13-5).
If there are no tiebreakers, the semifinals are 9 a.m. and noon Sunday and the final is 3 p.m.
The winner advances to westerns, Aug. 18 to 20 at Kamloops.
Visit www.baseballalberta.com for the schedule.
The Cardinals, last year's western champions and 2015 silver medallists, are 25-8-2 overall entering provincials.
The St. Albert Cardinals have home-field advantage when the Baseball Alberta midget AAA Tier I championship starts Sunday at Legion Memorial Park.
The eight-team draw had not been finalized at press time because the results of Tuesday's games in the Norwest league would have a bearing on the final standings to determine the Tier I and Tier II provincial qualifiers.
The top eight teams are the Cardinals (30-3), Calgary Dinos Black (29-6), Parkland Twins (28-8), Sherwood Park A's (27-12), Red Deer Braves (26-11), SEEBA (22-13), the defending provincial champion, Fort McMurray Oil Giants (19-19) and Prairie Lights (17-20) of Grande Prairie.
The opening ceremony is slated for Sunday between 5 and 6 p.m. and the final is on tap for Tuesday.
Visit www.baseballalberta.com or www.stalbertbaseball.com for the schedule.
The winner advances to the U18 Baseball Canada championship, Aug. 17 to 29 at London, Ont., and the runner-up competes at westerns, Aug. 11 to 13 at Steinbach, Man.
The midget AAA tournament is traditionally staged during the August long weekend but was moved back because of Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg and the baseball finals are Friday.
Tylor Jans and Liam Froment of the Cardinals are pitching for Team Alberta.
The Cardinals are 39-12 in league, tournament and exhibition action.
The St. Albert Cardinals are in Okotoks this weekend to defend their Baseball Alberta bantam AAA Tier I championship.
The eight-team tournament schedule was unavailable at press time.
The winner advances to the U15 Baseball Canada championship, Aug. 24 to 27 at Summerside, P.E.I., and the runner-up competes at westerns, Aug. 18 to 20 at Kamloops.
Last year the Cardinals finished fourth at nationals.
The top eight teams in the Baseball Alberta bantam AAA standings are Okotoks Dawgs Black (31-3), Calgary Cubs Blue (25-10), South Jasper Place Jays (25-9), Parkland Twins (25-8), Cardinals (24-9), Sherwood Park Athletics (15-19), Calgary Junior Dino's 11-18) and Fort McMurray Oil Giants (8-27).
The St. Albert Cardinals needed an extra day to record a comeback victory in the Baseball Alberta mosquito A Tier II final.
The July 23 tournament championship at Goldstick Park started at 6:30 p.m. and after only 1-1/2 innings a strong thunderstorm rolled in and the umpires called the game due to lightning and Parkland Twins White leading 6-2.
The final resumed July 25 in Spruce Grove and Parkland got off to a quick 10-2 lead after three innings. The Cardinals put in pitcher Garrett Sowa to finish the game and Sowa and the team's defence held Parkland scoreless the rest of the way as the Red Birds chipped away at the lead to win 13-10.
The defence came through in the clutch in the sixth and last inning for the final three outs.
The Cardinals are a provincial team made up of house league players who chose to try out for the mosquito A team to extend their baseball season. All associations in the province put together teams in this fashion for the provincial tournament.
The Cardinals were formed one week before the tiering games started July 8.
The team's record was 7-3.
Mosquito players are born in 2006 and 2007 and the Cardinals had one female player born in 2005, which is acceptable under Baseball Alberta rules.
The Cardinals are Tate Armstrong, Chase Bruneau, Samuel Cadieux, Emric Cadieux, Ethan Delisle, Erik Eliuk, Corbin Fuhr, Owen Inkster, Ethan Page, Hailey Page, Garrett Sowa, Nate Surmon and Elijah Thomas.
Visit www.stalbertgazette.com to view the team picture.
