Junior AAA Cardinals
The St. Albert Cardinals fly to Innisfail as the No. 1 seed for the Baseball Alberta junior AAA championship this weekend.The Cardinals finished league play first overall at 16-6 after splitting Sunday’s doubleheader in Barrhead. Scores were 11-6 over the host Orioles (11-6) and the 8-5 loss to Confederation Park Reds (5-15).
The five-team provincial round robin starts 9 a.m. Saturday for the Cardinals against the Innisfail Merchants (10-6), followed by the 3 p.m. contest against the Orioles.
Sunday’s game times are 12 noon against the Fort Saskatchewan Red Sox and 6 p.m. against Community Park.
If no tiebreakers, Monday’s final is 3 p.m.
The Cardinals are also the host team for westerns, Aug. 10 to 12 at Legion Memorial Park. Representatives from Saskatchewan and Manitoba, plus another Alberta, round out the five-team draw.
Meanwhile, a number of junior Cardinals also play for St. Albert’s senior AA team in the North Central Alberta Baseball League and a win Tuesday against the visiting Westlock Red Lions would lift the Red Birds into fourth place. Both teams were tied at 11-8 for the last playoff spot. The score was unavailable at press time.
The last NCABL game before the Aug. 18-19 semifinal weekend is Tuesday against the first-place Sherwood Park Athletics (15-3) at 7 p.m. in St. Albert.
Bantam AA Tier V
The third game for the St. Albert Blue Cardinals on Sunday was the provincial winner at the Baseball Alberta bantam AA Tier V tournament at Legion Memorial Park.The Cardinals defeated the Lakeland Northstars 24-14 to finish 4-1 at the six-team provincials.
In pool B, the Cardinals beat the Coronation Royals 14-3 and lost 25-10 to the Calgary Grizzlies.
The tiebreaker between the Cardinals and Coronation ended 10-0 for the home team for a berth in the semifinals.
A complete game five-hit shutout by Tyler Fitka propelled the Cardinals past the Hanna Hornets for a shot at the championship.
The Sylvan Lake Mariners also competed at provincials.
Peewee provincials
The peewee provincials for the St. Albert Cardinals are on tap this weekend in Spruce Grove and at Legion Memorial Park.The Cardinals are hosting the peewee AA Tier III tournament and the peewee AAA Tier I championship is at Henry Singer Ball Park.
Schedules were not available on the Baseball Alberta website at press time.
In the provincial round, the peewee AAA Cardinals finished third at 15-3 behind the Parkland Twins (18-3) and Okotoks Dawgs (16-3) and the team’s overall league record is 19-5.
