The midget AAA St. Albert Cardinals looked like they made some major strides, winning four games in six days, but took another step back on Thursday.
In the 6-3 loss to SEEBA 2 at Legion Memorial Park, St. Albert once again committed many more errors than they would like to see with seven.
“On our side of things, we allowed a lot of base-on balls, we allowed a couple hit-by-pitches, we didn’t make some plays in the field and they were able to capitalize and get some timely hits when they needed them,” said St. Albert coach Kurtis Lay.
In the other dugout, SEEBA pitcher Mitch St. Laurent wasn’t giving St. Albert much of a chance. His coach asked for a pitch count after six innings and it was only at 81, so he was left in to complete the game, because he certainly still had command of all of his pitches.
When all was said and done, the Grade 11 right-hander had given up just five hits, no walks, three runs and only two of them were earned. He also whiffed eight batters.
“He kept the ball down in the zone,” Lay said. “I don’t even know if he got to a three-ball count the entire game. He kept us off-balance and was able to throw his breaking-ball for a strike.”
Through seven games this season, St. Laurent boasts a 4-3 record and a stingy 1.30 ERA.
St. Albert actually got on the board early and held a 2-0 lead before letting it slip away. McLean Cruthers scored the first run in the opening inning after rocketing a triple over the centre-fielder’s head and crossing the plate after a rare wild pitch from St. Laurent.
St. Albert starting pitcher Levi Dick scored his team’s second run in the next inning. After stealing second, he advanced to third on a Matt Reiniger single and came around after a balk.
In the fourth inning, Dick was in tough, but did well to get out of a bases loaded and none out situation giving up only one run and inducing a ground ball that his infield turned into a 4-6-3 double-play.
St. Albert’s play declined in the fifth and six innings, with the home pitchers (Dick and Nathan Coffin) throwing three wild pitches, two walks and hitting two batters.
“We had some errors,” said St. Albert catcher Scott Peterson, 18. “We pitched good for the first few innings. After that, it all went downhill. It wasn’t the worst loss we’ve had. We’re starting to pick up a little.”
St. Albert committed four errors in the sixth inning alone, found themselves down 6-3 and couldn’t respond with any more runs in the final two innings.
St. Albert was coming off a strong 5-2 win over the Sherwood Park A’s on Wednesday in St. Albert. Cruthers threw for six innings, and only gave up two hits and one run, as the Cardinals recorded their third league victory of the season.
In the weekend tournament at Medicine Hat, St. Albert finished tied for first in its four-team pool. However, based on the runs for and against tie-breaker, the Cardinals had to settle for third and moved into the consolation bracket. In their final game on Sunday, they beat Strathmore 12-3.
Shane Zimmer and Taylor Simmonds joined the Cardinals for the tournament because it was close to where they’re finishing up Grade 12 with the Vauxhall Baseball Academy and Zimmer, in particular, performed very well.
“I think he had five hits on the weekend and played some short for us and pitched for us. I mean, the guy did it all,” Lay said. “I was really pleased with Zimmer. I think he’s an impact guy. He takes on a leadership role.”
The duo will rejoin the Cardinals full-time at the end of June.
The tournament, plus the win over Sherwood Park, could have been seen as a change in momentum for the season, but Lay isn’t about to get ahead of himself.
“With these guys, it’s a matter of coming to play every day, and I don’t want to say they made progress, because only time will tell,” Lay said. “If they continue to play well as they did [Wednesday], then yeah, maybe it was a turning point in our season, but at this moment in time, it’s really hard to say.”
St. Albert’s next game is on Tuesday in Edmonton against the first-place SEEBA 1 team at 7 p.m.
