The St. Albert Cardinals have high hopes of passing this weekend’s midterm in preparation for the final exam at provincials.
The three-game series at Legion Memorial Park between the 16-1 Cardinals and 9-0 Calgary Dinos Black in the Norwest Midget AAA Baseball League starts today, weather permitting, at 1 and 4 p.m. and Sunday’s game is 10 a.m.
“The Dinos will be a big test. They’re doing really well,” said Cam Houston, head coach of the first-place Cardinals.
The Dinos are averaging 14.2 runs and 3.3 against in nine games compared to 9.0 runs and 2.2 against for the Cardinals in 17 games
“It will be a big series,” said outfielder Conor Bronson. “We’re trying to win as many games as we can so we’re ready to take on the championship.”
The Cardinals have put in a bid to host the Baseball Alberta Tier I tournament.
“We’re looking to win after that big loss two years ago and being knocked out early last year,” said Bronson, an over-age player, on the 2015 provincials in St. Albert when the Cardinals were leading 8-1 in the final with six outs to go before the Okotoks Black Dawgs rallied to win 12-8 with a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh and last year’s surprising quick exit after going 22-16 in league play and 30-24-2 overall before provincials.
The Cardinals are a red-hot 21-5 this season after Thursday’s 6-5 decision against the Sherwood Park A’s (8-3) in St. Albert as Mike Brisson, a first-year midget, slugged his first homer of the year in the fourth inning.
“I had expectations that we were going to do very well but I didn’t expect maybe this kind of start,” Houston said. “The guys show up every day ready to battle and it makes coaching easy for me right now.
“Everyone has performed well so it’s a good team atmosphere. Everyone is chipping in every day and it makes it a little more fun at the ballpark.”
The Cardinals have excelled at hitting, pitching and fielding while racking up the wins.
“We’re doing all three of the big ones. We’re swinging it really well and averaging quite a few runs a game. The pitchers have done well too. We’re not giving up very many runs and they’re controlling base runners and keeping the scores reasonable to give us a chance to win. Defensively we’ve played really strong. (Zach) Froment has been doing a great job at shortstop for us,” Houston said. “Our win/loss record is so good right now because we’re doing the little things right.”
Six of the 10 additions to the roster are graduates of last year’s bantam AAA provincial Tier I champion Cardinals and fourth-place finishers at the U15 Baseball Canada tournament.
“We had a lot of new guys coming in and they’re doing their jobs well so when you have not only the older guys stepping and doing what they can do and the young guys are playing above expectations – it’s hard to lose games playing like that,” Bronson said.
Last weekend the Cardinals swept the homestand against the Prairie Lights (10-7) of Grande Prairie by scores of 17-3, 5-0 and 11-3.
“We hit really well. Everyone came together and strung some hits together,” Bronson said. “Our pitchers shut them down in each game so that always gives us a chance to win when they do that.”
It was a big bounce-back weekend after SEEBA, last year’s provincial champion, handed the Cardinals their first loss in the league after 12 consecutive victories.
“Their pitcher pitched well so you’ve got to tip your cap to him. Our bats just kind of went quiet,” Bronson said of the 2-1 setback at John Fry Park last week. “(Tylor) Jans pitched a hell of a game for us. They just got two timely hits to give them two runs.”
The Cardinals took the loss to heart.
“We were on a pretty good run there for awhile and it kind of knocked us down a peg. It showed these guys if you don’t show up every day someone can come in and take it from you. Maybe we got a little compliment as far as winning so much and thinking it was going to be easy and it definitely wasn’t,” Houston said. “SEEBA is really strong. We ran into a good pitcher and we just didn’t swing it very well that game.
“There are some good teams out there like SEEBA. Spruce Grove (13-3 Parkland Twins) is also good. There are about five of us that are going compete (for the provincial title) at the end of the year and hopefully it’s us that wins it.”
Bronson, 18, believes the Cardinals are headed in the right direction.
“We have to keep going as a team. Everyone’s got to do their jobs,” said the Bellerose Composite High School graduate. “If we keep winning it will give us a lot of confidence going into provincials.”
