The St. Albert Cardinals flew home from the midget AAA provincials in Okotoks with silver medals after losing Sunday’s final.
The 11-10 setback to the No. 3-ranked Okotoks Dawgs Red ended one of the best seasons in years by the Cardinals.
Statistical game information was unavailable at press time.
The No. 5-ranked Cardinals finished 6-2 overall at the five-day, 13-team and 41-game tournament.
In the preliminary round the Cardinals recorded extra-inning wins against the No. 10-ranked Fort McMurray Oil Giants 7-6 with a walkoff run and the No. 4-ranked Sherwood Park Dukes 3-2. They also mercied the No. 13-ranked Sherwood Park A’s 19-4 to advance to the Tier I bracket. Fort McMurray went on to win the Tier II title.
In pool A the Cardinals downed the Dukes 9-0 as Jackson Wark twirled a three-hit, complete-game shutout. The Red Birds also posted a 9-3 decision against No. 8-ranked SEEBA 2 and fell 7-6 to No. 1-ranked Calgary Dinos.
In the semifinals the Cardinals edged the No. 2-ranked Okotoks Dawgs Black 5-4 and the Dawgs Red defeated the Dinos 7-3.
The Cardinals marched into provincials as winners of seven straight in the Norwest league to finish 18-10 for sixth place.
The Cardinals also placed sixth last year at 15-16 and at provincials they were ranked seventh and won two games.
Two years ago they failed to register a win at provincials.
This year’s 17-player line-up featured 10 newcomers, including six graduates of the bantam AAA Cardinals.
Six members of the St. Albert Mustangs Track and Field Club celebrated podium finishes at the Western Canadian Midget and Youth Championships last weekend in Calgary.
The following Mustangs were awarded medals:
• Jakob Brinkhof, 14-15 midget: gold in javelin (46.19 metres) and bronze in discus and hammer throw.
• Lewis Collins, midget: gold in 4x100m relay and 1,600m sprint medley relay (Team B), silver in 200m and bronze in 300m.
• Madelyn Curle, midget: gold in high jump (1.60m) and bronze in 4x100m relay.
• Brooklyn Failing, 16-17 youth: silver in high jump.
• Jace Mix, midget: gold in 4x100m relay, silver in 300m, high jump and 1,600m sprint medley relay (Team A) and bronze in 200m and long jump.
• Ty Noyes, midget: gold in 4x100m relay and silver in 100m, javelin and 1,600m sprint medley relay (Team A).
Brinkhof, Collins, Failing and Mix will also represent the Mustangs at the Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships next week in Langley, B.C. Brinkhof qualified in javelin, Mix and Collins will compete in the pentathlon and Failing is in high jump.
The season ended sooner than expected for the St. Albert Miners after the senior B team bowed out in four games to the Calgary Mountaineers in the best-of-five semifinal in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League.
Last weekend the Mountaineers defeated the 2012 provincial finalists 14-8 and 17-8 in Calgary after the teams split the series opener the previous weekend in St. Albert by scores of 11-10 for the Mountaineers in double overtime and 14-13 for the Miners.
The Miners hung tough in both games in Calgary before fading in the third period.
The absence of captain and prolific scorer Nate Schmidt (33 goals and 68 points in 17 league and playoff games combined) because of work commitments in Quebec and netminder Dave Marrese for game four because of a friend’s wedding contributed to the Miners’ demise.
The Miners, provincial champions in 2010 and 2011, finished second in league play at 11-5 and the Mountaineers placed third at 9-6. The Miners swept the season series by identical 10-9 scores.
The bantam AAA St. Albert Cardinals carry their 17-15 league record into the Tier I provincials this weekend in Okotoks.
The Red Birds will compete against SEEBA (24-6), Sherwood Park A’s (19-12), Spruce Grove White Sox (18-13) and the host Okotoks Dawgs Black (29-3) for the provincial title.
The Cardinals wrapped up their regular season by splitting Saturday’s doubleheader at Legion Memorial Park. They lost 2-1 to SEEBA and won 7-2 over the Calgary Cubs (8-19).
The first game was scoreless until SEEBA scored twice in the top of the seventh. Dylan Gates, the only returning Cardinal on the roster, threw five innings of one-hit shutout ball and struck out five.
In game two James Robillard came out of the bullpen to pitch 4-2/3 innings and allowed one run and one hit while fanning four Cubs.
