The St. Albert Cardinals survived the depths of despair to experience the euphoria of winning the Baseball Alberta peewee AAA Tier I championship last weekend at Legion Memorial Park.
The St. Albert Cardinals survived the depths of despair to experience the euphoria of winning the Baseball Alberta peewee AAA Tier I championship last weekend at Legion Memorial Park.
After a sloppy 11-8 loss to the Sherwood Park A's and 21-6 mercy-rule shocker against the Okotoks Dawgs in pool play Saturday the No. 1-ranked Cardinals clutched up Sunday to knock off the Spruce Grove White Sox 5-4 in a nine-inning semifinal thriller and in the final collared the Dawgs 14-4.
“I'm speechless,” said catcher Ryan Marples, the tournament MVP, after the post-game medal ceremony. “It's hard to believe we lost 21-6 to this team yesterday and we come out today and we actually mercied them 14-4.”
So how did the Cardinals pull off the startling turnaround?
“It was a new day. We put yesterday behind us and we battled back hard today,” Marples said. “This is what we usually play like.”
Head coach Mark Brisson elaborated on the team's successful playoff run after going 1-2 in the round robin.
“Last night after the game (against Okotoks) we said we've got to be better tomorrow. That was our worst day. We can not play any worse than that,” Brisson said of the 34-9 Cardinals. “We said we would commit to a total team game and each player would commit to defence and battle in the strike zone and battle in the batter's box and try and hit some runs in and we did that today.
“What impressed me even more was the guys on the bench kept each other up, kept cheering each other and keeping our eyes focused on what we needed to do each inning, each out and each time we were at bat.”
It added up to the first Baseball Alberta title for the Cardinals since 2006.
“We're glad to win it, especially here on home soil,” said Logan McKinley, the starting pitcher in the final and the team's player of the game. “We pushed hard to win it.”
The Cardinals will now gear up for nationals, Aug. 22 to 26, in London, Ont.
“We're going to go there and do what we did here and try and win,” McKinley said.
“We're really excited. It's an honour to do it,” Brisson added. “We'll put a game plan together but first of all we'll celebrate this victory and then in about a week we'll come back and we'll start doing the ground balls and we'll get our pitching going as well.”
McKinley, 13, got the ball rolling towards nationals by reaching base as the leadoff hitter in the bottom off the first and scored from third base on Marples' two-out RBI. The Cardinals pushed two more runs across to lead 3-0.
In the third the Dawgs scored twice and the Cardinals replied with Marples' RBI single to score Liam Froment, who led off the inning with a double.
The Cardinals ramped it up in the fourth with Mike Brisson, Froment and Marples knocking in runs to lead 7-2.
In the fifth the Dawgs scored once off Marples, who replaced the southpaw McKinley to start the inning.
In the bottom half of the fifth, Marples' two-out RBI double highlighted a three-run outburst.
Marples gave way to Will Gardner after loading the bases in the sixth and after the Dawgs scored once the Cardinals ended the inning with a double play.
With the Cardinals up to bat leading 11-4 Gardner drove home one run and McKinley's two-run RBI double scored Kade Knight and Gardner to complete the mercy-rule victory.
“It was tight at the start and then we pushed it on and got the bats working and we were able to push it off in the end,” said McKinley, who was mobbed at second base by the Cardinals and doused with water in celebration after his game-ending hit.
“It was exciting to get the winning run in and enjoy it with my team,” McKinley said. “We battled hard throughout the tournament to win it and it's a good feeling.”
Defensively the Cardinals were rock solid and turned a couple of highlight-reel double plays.
“We had two guys thrown out at home (from left field) by Brady Kobitowich and Kade Knight and those two plays took the wind out of their sails,” said coach Brisson. “Mike Brisson, playing first for the first time this year, made two perfect digs that also killed two rallies on the other team.”
The result also exemplified the “good solid character and baseball posture” the Cardinals displayed in the semifinal,” according to coach Brisson.
“That game really showed what type of team we are this year. It's that ‘bend, don't break' principle. Each inning it got tighter and tighter and we come back and finish it off,” he said.
In the top of the ninth Marples drilled a ball to the fence as Froment scored to put the Cardinals on top for good.
“We needed it right at that time and that's really a lot of the reason that gold glove (MVP trophy) goes to him. He's done that all weekend long. He's been a leader on the bench, a leader behind the plate and a leader as a hitter,” said coach Brisson.
Marples, 13, was labouring in the heat wearing the tools of ignorance throughout the marathon affair but still had enough strength to crush a fastball with Froment on base.
“I had nothing left. I just wanted to get out of there,” Marples said. “I was pretty happy to help out my team that way.”
Froment started the semifinal and Mike Brisson pitched the last five innings for the win. It was 3-1 early in the contest and 4-3 in the fifth for the Cardinals.
“We just battled through that game and pushed hard and we were able to sneak one out,” said McKinley, who led off the semifinal with a single and scored on Jared Gilbeau's RBI double.
FOUL BALLS: In the tournament opener Friday the Cardinals defeated the Red Deer Braves 9-4.
In the loss to Sherwood Park the Cardinals fell behind 7-0 after the first. In the second a coach from the A's was tossed and in the third and Mike Brisson was given the heave-ho for a late slide with spikes high into second base that shook up the infielder. It was 9-4 for the A's entering the fourth.
In the bronze-medal game Sunday the Calgary Cubs beat Spruce Grove 6-2.
Visit www.baseballalberta.com for all the tournament scores.
