It was a tight game Wednesday night, but the St. Albert Junior Cardinals weren’t able to squeeze out a win against the Sherwood Park Athletics at Legion Memorial Park.
With no score after the regulation seven innings, the two teams swung into extras with Sherwood Park taking the ballgame with a 2-1 score at the end of the eighth.
On the phone Thursday morning head coach Ray Brown said that despite the loss, it was a good game.
“We had a chance to win it a couple of times, but the baseball gods weren’t on our side and so we lost 2 to 1, but it was a good game. It was well played by both teams, well umpired, it was just one of those unfortunate things for us.”
Mclean Cruthers had a good night on the mound, pitching all eight innings against the A’s and giving up only five hits.
“Unfortunately one of them was a two-run homer in the eighth inning, but he pitched really well,” Brown said.
The sixth-ranked Cardinals (5-6) put up a good fight against Sherwood Park (8-2), who currently sit in the No. 2 spot in the North Central Alberta Baseball League Standings.
The head coach said both teams played well defensively, but the toughest challenge for the St. Albert team was just trying to score a run.
“Their pitcher pitched really well,” Brown said. “So just trying to get a guy on base and trying to get him into a scoring position and just trying to score a run.”
At the bottom of the eighth Matthew Woodland was able to score for the Junior Cards, but they left the tying run on base.
Woodland got on base with a walk, and teammate Matt Biollo delivered a base hit that took him to third, followed by a sacrifice fly from Nathan Coffin that finally brought Woodland home.
“We had one out with a guy on first base and our number five hitter, Hayden Chies, hit a ball really well down the right field line,” Brown said. “We thought the ball was going to drop in and tie the game, but their right fielder just made a great play,” Brown said.
St. Albert’s next game goes Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. at Legion Memorial Park when they take on the Sturgeon Paladins that are currently in the basement with a 2-7 record.
