St. Albert’s winning streak had to end eventually and it ended in a big way Sunday.
After winning nine straight games overall in tournaments and league play, the bantam AAA St. Albert Cardinals lost both games in a doubleheader at Legion Memorial Ball Park on the weekend. They lost the first 12-7 to Foothills Black of Okotoks, and were mercied in five innings by the Foothills Red 15-5.
St. Albert is now 11-4 on the season, still good enough for second place, trailing only the Red Deer Braves (15-6). On Sunday, the Cardinals might have gotten into the trap of looking past their upcoming opponents. Heading into the weekend, Foothills Black was 10-4, while Foothills Red was 5-6.
“You know what, you’ve got to show up to play the game, right?” said coach Dave Maguire. “You can’t just assume that other teams are going to roll over and play dead. Obviously, we’re a little bit too comfortable and we need to go back to the drawing board in certain aspects.”
In their last game, St. Albert made one minor error that came nowhere close to costing them the game. On Sunday, St. Albert couldn’t find any consistency in either game.
St. Albert went into the top of the sixth inning against Foothills Black tied 7-7, after leading earlier in the game, and let things slip away. With the bases loaded and one out, Foothills earned two walks, scoring two runs and a third scored on a wild pitch. The next player smacked a two-run single to go up 12-7.
In their final two innings, the Cardinals earned just one hit in their comeback effort, a single from Sean Poulin. All of the other six batters grounded out.
“We play Okotoks Black again next Sunday in a doubleheader, so it’ll be revenge time, I guess,” Maguire said. “What I hope we take out of it is that there’s lots to learn still to get better.”
In the second game, St. Albert got off to a 2-0 start in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Jay Florkevich reached first when the Foothills’ left-fielder couldn’t come up with a catch. He came in to score when Cam Vilscak hit a slow roller along the third base line and beat out the throw at first. After Vilscak stole second base and moved over to third on a ground ball, he scored on a wild pitch.
Foothills scored two runs in the bottom of the first, but really took control in the second inning. The visitors had 14 batters come to the plate, hitting several singles, a couple of bunts and a leadoff double from Isagha Eagletail. One batter was hit by a pitch and a fielding error from pitcher Lyndon Galvin let another ball go. In all, Foothills scored nine runs in the inning to go up 11-2.
“Today everything beat us,” Maguire said. “Baseball beat us. We beat ourselves. It wasn’t one aspect. It was all aspects, I guess. I’m speechless. I don’t really know what to tell you, because I didn’t really know what to tell [the players], either.”
Foothills scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to secure the mercy-rule win.
On Tuesday, the Cardinals visited Sherwood Park Green (4-12). The score was not available at press time.
Tonight at 7 p.m., St. Albert visits the Edmonton Cardinals (6-10) at Rundle Park.
