The stage is set for a championship winning performance by the St. Albert Cardinals.
The host team for the Baseball Alberta midget AAA Tier I tournament played its role as the provincial front-runner to perfection during a successful 30-3 season in the Norwest league.
"We've played some good ball this year. Good defence. Good hitting. We're clicking," said Zach Froment, shortstop for the 39-12 Cardinals in league play, tournaments and exhibitions. "A lot of that has to do with team chemistry. Everyone on this team loves each other. We hang out after games and after practice."
The Cardinals will showcase their skills starting Sunday in the familiar surroundings at Legion Memorial Park.
"There is a lot of pent-up excitement," Froment said. "It's always cool when it's at home. You're playing in front of all your friends and family and hopefully you win."
The provincial draw features the top eight teams in the Norwest circuit.
In pool A, the Cardinals play the Red Deer Braves (26-11) at 6 p.m. Sunday following the opening ceremonies
Monday's game times are noon against the Prairie Lights (17-20) of Grande Prairie and 6 p.m. against the Sherwood Park Athletics (27-12).
Pool B consists of Calgary Dinos Black (30-6), Parkland Twins (28-8), SEEBA (22-13), the defending provincial champion, and Fort McMurray Oil Giants (19-19).
If there are no tiebreakers, Tuesday's crossover 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 updates.
The winner qualifies for the U18 Baseball Canada championship, Aug. 17 to 20 at London, Ont., and the second-place finisher goes to westerns, Aug. 11 to 13 at Steinbach, Man.
The surging Cardinals have high hopes of reaching the provincial final for the fourth time in five years. The last crowning achievement at provincials was 2014 as the Red Birds advanced to nationals for the first time since 2008.
As the Alberta reps, the Cardinals were national silver medallists and at westerns won gold in 2013 and settled for silver in 2015.
This year's provincial contenders include Calgary and Parkland as potential playoff opponents.
The Cardinals beat Parkland three times by scores of 11-0, 10-8 and 8-6 and shutout Calgary 4-0 July 20.
"They're both similar to us because they both hit the ball well and they've got some dudes who can throw pretty well too," said Froment, one of 10 returnees from the 2015 Cardinals that finished fifth at 22-16 in the Norwest standings before bowing out at provincials.
The 20-player roster includes six additions from last year's bantam AAA Cardinals, provincial Tier I champions and fourth-place finishers at the U15 Baseball Canada tournament.
The last Norwest game before provincials was Monday's 6-4 decision over Sherwood Park as the Cardinals raised their record to 4-1 (1-1 in exhibition) against another tough foe.
"Sherwood Park is one of those teams that just doesn't kind of go away so you've got to keep putting the pressure on. You can't let the pedal off the gas for even a little bit," Froment said. "SEEBA and Parkland are going to be like that too."
The Cardinals are among four Norwest teams to score more than 300 runs while averaging 9.15 per game and they are the No. 1 defensive team with a microscopic 2.8 runs against per game.
"We've got a lot of good athletes on this team, especially in the outfield. They track down a lot of balls. The infield is pretty good too and if the guys do make some errors we can pick them up pretty easily," said Froment, 17, a Grade 12 Morinville Community High School student.
