The St. Albert Tigers turned in a disappointing performance at provincials thanks to the same problem that has plagued them all season.
Last weekend the home side went 1-3 at the senior AAA tournament at Legion Memorial Park. They finished the tournament Sunday with a 5-0 loss to the Red Deer Riggers, the eventual champions, in a game in which they only recorded four hits, just two of which came during the first six innings.
Jessy Beley, a rookie on the senior squad who played for the junior Tabbies last year, said hitting has been a problem for the team all year and the Tigers need to adjust their attitude for next season.
“We can’t come out to the ballpark and score four runs in a weekend if we want to win a provincial championship,” the 22-year-old said. “I think we’ve just got to change some things and make some adjustments in the offseason. We’ve got to come out stronger. We used to be a powerhouse. I remember growing up, it was all about the Tigers.”
Tigers coach Kurtus Millar had a hard time coming up with an explanation for his team’s play at the plate that generated five runs in two games while getting shutout twice.
“If you look at our line-up, one through nine, we hit at a .300 average this year and then we get into tournaments or big games and it shuts down,” he said. “I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t have the best hitting line-up in the league.”
The Tigers opened the tournament Friday with a 2-0 loss to the Fort Saskatchewan Athletics and a 5-3 loss to the Red Deer Stags.
In their third match, the Tigers recorded a 2-1 victory against the Calgary Redbirds, who failed to win a game in the tournament.
“In the first game against the Fort we had guys in scoring position. Brandon Barr hits one up the middle and it hits the pitcher’s foot. It’s this far away from being a base hit. And then we get a guy on third base and Joe Carr hits one down the first base line. It bounces off first base and right to the first-baseman,” Millar said.
Against the Riggers in their final game of the year, the Tigers could’ve had more than four hits if it wasn’t for some bad luck with a bunch of hard ground balls and line drives going straight to Red Deer fielders.
Pitching for the Tigers was pickup Jarvis Greiner who did very well on the mound, holding the Riggers to just two runs through four innings. In the second inning, Mike Ronnie hit a solo home run for Red Deer just left of straightaway centre field, about 375 feet.
In the fourth inning, the Riggers doubled their lead by scoring a run on a sacrifice fly, but it wasn’t until the fifth inning they broke the game open with three runs. The Tigers gave up three walks in the inning — two from Greiner and one from Drew Boyer. The walk from the reliever came with the bases loaded, allowing Red Deer to go up 5-0.
In the final, the Riggers beat the Athletics 6-4 to earn the right to compete in the senior national championship next year in Quebec. The Riggers will also be travelling to this year’s nationals after winning provincials last year. They will be joined by the Athletics, who won provincials two years ago and nationals last year.
Provincials wrapped up a season in which the Tigers finished fourth out of five teams at 5-6 in the Sunburst Baseball League and were swept in the playoffs by the Athletics in two straight games by scores of 6-3 and 6-4.
As for next year, Beley is looking forward to playing ball again with the Tigers.
“We’ve got a chance to win it all next year, Hopefully we bring in some guys and get some more commitment out of others and we’ll be good to go,” said Beley, who tried to get the junior Tabbies organized at the start of the season before realizing he wouldn’t have enough players to field a team. “I really enjoyed playing with the Tigers and [Millar] is a great coach. There are some great guys on the team.”
