Over the weekend the midget AAA St. Albert Cardinals got a preview of the tough competition they will be up against at provincials.
The Cardinals host provincials starting Thursday and wrapping up Sunday at Legion Memorial Park. All 10 teams in the province will be at the tournament, divided into two pools, and St. Albert got a look at three of the top teams in both squads from Okotoks as well as the Red Deer Braves.
St. Albert finished the regular season with a 10-19 record in the Norwest league after going 1-3 in the final weekend of the season. The Red Birds lost to Okotoks Black (27-2) 8-1 and Okotoks Red (16-16) 10-0, beat Red Deer (15-16) 5-3 and then lost to the Braves 10-9.
St. Albert coach Sean Erikson was happy to finish the last weekend before the provincial tournament with some strong competition.
“It was definitely good to see those Okotoks teams again,” he said. “Due to the rain, we hadn’t seen them as much up to this point as the schedule called for, so it’s definitely good in that respect. Red Deer is a really good club too. With how we’ve been playing the last six games before today, it was really good to get out and play 14 innings of pretty good baseball.”
St. Albert opened Sunday’s doubleheader at Legion park with an impressive win over Red Deer, thanks in large part to their starting pitcher.
“Nolan Werre did a great job on the mound for us,” Erikson said. “He got through a complete game with 86 pitches … he just pounded that strike zone. It was a great pitching game, which led to a great defensive game.”
In the second game against the Braves, starter Taylor Simmonds, who is headed to Wayne State College in Nebraska in the fall, allowed just one hit but threw six walks and allowed three runs through 1.33 innings pitched.
“Today just wasn’t my day,” said the 18-year-old left-hander. “I just struggled out there but I will be better next time. I’ve had a bit of a rough summer, [with] ups and downs. I’ve had a couple good games where things [went] my way and then I’ve had some bad games like today.”
Nathan Coffin took over in relief in the second inning. He pitched 1.67 innings and Jordan Denault came in for the final four. In total, St. Albert pitchers threw 11 walks and hit one batter with a pitch.
However, the Cardinals were solid batting. In the first inning, Taylor Wiebe drilled a two-run double along the right-field line and the next batter, Scott Peterson, smacked an RBI double. St. Albert left the inning with a 4-0 lead.
Levi Dick tied it at eight apiece with a two-run double in the top of the fifth. In the sixth, Simmonds made up big for his earlier pitching woes with his first home run since his first weekend with the team at the end of June, a solo shot over the right-field wall.
“It’s nice after struggling on the mound to do something solid offensively to help fix what you’ve wrecked,” said Simmonds, who moved to left field after he was pulled from the mound.
That put the Cardinals on top 9-8, but they got into trouble in the bottom of the seventh inning. After the 11th and final walk the Cardinals gave up, Reid Stoyberg hit a single. He was followed by Scott Trapp, who laid down a bunt. Denault fielded the ball and looked to play the ball to third. There was no play and by the time he looked to first, Trapp was going to be safe, whether Denault threw the ball over or not. Red Deer tied the game on a wild pitch and won the game on a walk-off single to right-centre field.
At provincials, Simmonds said his team’s performance will depend on pitchers avoiding walks.
“As long as we start throwing more strikes we’ll be fine,” he said. “Our bats are going and when we throw strikes our defence is good.”
The provincial schedule was unavailable at press time. Visit www.baseballalberta.ca and www.ballcharts.com/stalbert for updates.
