The St. Albert bantam AAA Cardinals' chance for an Early Bird Tournament win literally hung in the air in the top of the sixth inning as centrefielder Cam Mazur charged for the fly ball.
The Cardinals were down 2-1 in the top of the sixth to the Spruce Grove White Sox in the tournament's bantam AAA championship game. With a White Sox runner on third base, Mazur dove forward to snag the ball just before it hit the ground. As the White Sox runner tagged up and sprinted for home, Mazur rose to his knees and gunned a bullet to catcher Matt Quartel at home plate for the out, saving a run and ending the inning.
The play of the game helped boost the Cardinals to a 3-2 win, capturing their home tournament title.
"I was actually thinking to myself, 'I hope they hit it to me so I could throw the guy out at home,' and they did," Mazur said. "I even got a good dive to make it look even better."
The Cardinals rallied in the bottom of the sixth with two runs to retake the lead, which they held until the end. But it was a base-running error that gave the Cardinals their go-ahead run. Adam Foo and Tanner McLean Poll both reached base on walks, then advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. Jackob Brinkhof slapped a single to right field that scored Foo to tie the game and sent Poll to third.
After Dylan Gates took a walk to load the bases with two out, Riley Fisher hit a line drive right to the White Sox shortstop. Gates was able to beat the shortstop to second, but overran the bag and was subsequently tagged out to end the inning. Poll was able to reach home plate before Gates was tagged, which meant the run counted even though the inning ended.
"By the time the shortstop applied the tag, the runner had scored. The run had scored before the third out and that's why it counted," field manager Dave Maguire said.
It was all the Cardinals needed as they shut down the White Sox in the top of the seventh to claim the championship in what was a defensive battle.
"We've been playing very good baseball this year and one of the things we focus a lot on is defence," Maguire said. "If we don't give the team extra bases, we don't give them extra runs."
That solid defence started with Erik Sabrowski on the mound, who twirled an absolute gem through five and two-thirds innings, striking out nine batters and hitting one.
"He's a second-year boy and he pitched very well last year and he's taken it to the next level for us," Maguire said. "When he's on his game, he's that rinky-dinky left-hander who can throw hard and throw slow and mix you all up."
Low scoring
It took until the bottom of the fourth for either team to score a run and it started with the Cardinals. Brinkhof skunked a hit in the infield that was an easy out for the White Sox, but the catcher was called for batter interference and the umpire awarded Brinkhof first base. He reached second on a missed bunt by Gates, then scored on a double by Riley Fisher.
The White Sox replied in the top of the fifth on an outfield single that scored a runner from second that tied the game, then went ahead in the top of the sixth on a left-field double that scored one run.
"The heart was beating a little faster but I had confidence we were going to come back," Mazur said.
OTHER RESULTS: The bantam AAAs weren't the only Cardinals' team to taste victory at the Early Bird Tournament. The bantam AAs mercied the South Jasper Place Blue Jays 17-5 in four innings to win the AA championship, while the Mosquito AA #1 Cardinals blanked the Red Deer Braves 6-0.
