The St. Albert Red Cardinals are locked and loaded for a second shot at the U18 nationals after missing the mark at last year’s provincials.
The Cardinals are gunning for the Baseball Alberta midget AAA Tier I championship as the host team this weekend at Legion Memorial Park.
“We’re going in there with confidence. We all know that we’re kind of expected to win and everyone in the dugout expects us to win,” said pitcher Liam Froment of the explosive Cardinals, 25-5 in the Norwest league, including a 16-4 mark in the provincial round, while going 36-4 overall.
Last year’s Cardinals were the team to beat as the No. 1 seed in the provincial draw at St. Albert but stumbled in the semifinal while striking out 11 times in the 6-1 loss to the Parkland Twins.
The result left the Cardinals with a record of 41-14 that included a 30-3 mark in the Norwest circuit.
“It kind of left a sour taste in our mouths. Hopefully we’ll try and win this one,” said second baseman Zach Froment, Liam’s older brother.
Provincials start 9 a.m. Friday and if there are no tiebreakers the final is 3 p.m. Sunday.
“It’s always fun to have it in your hometown having all your friends and family out watching us so it’s going to be good,” Zach said.
In pool A, the Cardinals play the Sherwood Park Athletics at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s game times are 12:15 p.m. against the U16 Okotoks Dawgs and 6:15 p.m. against the Red Deer Braves.
Okotoks won last weekend’s Tier II championship for a berth in the Tier I tournament.
Pool B consists of Calgary Dinos Black, Fort McMurray Oil Giants, Northern Lights of Grande Prairie and Parkland.
Sunday’s semifinals are 9 a.m. and 12 noon.
Visit www.baseballalberta.com for the schedule.
Fort McMurray is hosting the Aug. 16 to 19 nationals and will be joined by another team from provincials.
The last time the Cardinals won provincials was 2014 and at nationals were silver medallists.
Provincials will also determine the Alberta rep at westerns, hosted by the North Shore (B.C.) Twins the same weekend as nationals.
The Cardinals are well-schooled for success under head coach Cam Houston with 14 veterans on the 20-man roster and the majority of the players are linked to the Prospects Baseball Academy.
“We play the game right. We run bases well, we hit well, we throw strikes, not try and be too big, just stay even keel and just do what we’re supposed to do,” Liam said. “We just have to do the same things we’ve been doing all year. If we go in with a different attitude then it might change things.”
The difference between the Cardinals of last year and this year as contenders is minuscule.
“It’s pretty similar, honestly,” Zach said. “We try and keep it the same style, play good defence, hit the ball when we can and pitch well.
“We’ve got a little different group but it’s pretty much the same group, it’s just exciting for the new guys we get to play with this year.”
The good vibes on the eve of provincials are “even better probably than last year,” for the Cardinals, according to Liam.
The incentive to go the distance is higher than ever for the Cardinals, as controversy surrounded last year’s tournament over the eligibility of two pitchers on the Parkland roster with connections with the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball who were allowed to compete for Twins at provincials as teams like the Cardinals voiced their displeasure with Baseball Alberta officials. The Norwest league had no rules regarding minimum number of plate appearances or innings pitched in league play to be eligible for provincials and both pitchers were used as starters in the playoffs.
A potential roadblock this year for the provincial title is Fort McMurray and last week the Cardinals won two out of three games against the Oil Giants to close out league play. Two games were 1-0 results and the other was 10-3 as the Cardinals out-hit the home squad 12-4 on the strength of four home runs.
“Fort Mac for sure is definitely one of the better teams in the league. They've got a couple of arms up there that are pretty good,” Zach said. “Parkland is not bad either but we should be able to handle them.”
Joe Karall pitched a two-hit, 10-strikeout, complete-game gem in the team’s 1-0 decision, as Davis Pratt scored the winning run and Jackson Moffat delivered the decisive RBI in the seventh inning.
“Fort Mac is kind of a scrappy team. They like to get into our heads so we can’t let them do that basically,” said Liam, who tossed a two-hitter while fanning five and walked five while giving up two runs over 4-2/3 innings in the 10-3 outcome.
The southpaw is a reliable chucker on a pitching staff bursting with arms.
“My main pitch is curveball/change up and my off-speed stuff has been working really well this year. That's basically what I use,” said Liam, 17, who is entering Grade 12 at Morinville Community High School, while Zach, 18, is am MCHS grad who will play NCAA division two ball at Tusculum University in Tennessee after the season is over for the Cardinals.
Baseball brings the Froments closer together as brothers.
“It’s pretty cool. We’ve been playing forever like every second year because we're 16 months apart. It just seems like a normal thing,” said Liam, a Team Alberta pitcher for last year’s bronze medallists at the Canada Summer Games.
