The Yorkton Speedy Cash Cardinals Bantam AA baseball club got back on the mound after what's been a really slow season this year in terms of games played. They were blessed with some good weather on the one weekend when it really mattered, as they hosted an eight-team tournament at Jubilee Park.
They started things off with a come-from-behind win over Weyburn. Sean Alcorn, co-coach of the Bantams said it was one of those games where they got off to a slow/rough start but came back with flying colours as three different players stepped up with home runs, including Nick Carlson, Mackenzie Alcorn and Carter Bohn. One was a three-run drive to centre field that completely changed momentum of the game that saw the visitors jump out to a 9-4 lead in only the fourth inning.
That victory sent Yorkton back to work at 10 a.m., Saturday morning as they went up against the powerful Swift Current Indians. The Indians won 9-6. Alcorn said nothing went right.
"We just couldn't get a break," he said. Yorkton's hitting took a break they never wanted to take. They loaded the bases on three separate occasions and could not cash anything in, he said,
"It was a total lack of offence."
Coach Alcorn suggested that his team actually seems to perform better later in the day/evenings.
The Cardinals made up for the loss with redemption in the final match of the round robin against North Battleford, winning by a close score of 7-6.
Nothing went right for the majority of the game, insists Alcorn. "We trailed for almost the whole game."
The pitching proved just good enough to get the win. Derek Marshall got the start while Colton McKenzie came on in relief to secure the win.
"We played solid defence," observed coach Alcorn.
It was another case of the young Cardinals being guilty of taking a little nap, as they gave up five runs in the second inning alone, says Alcorn.
Yorkton made up for that in the sixth inning, he points out.
Sunday morning featured Yorkton and Prince Albert. According to coach Alcorn, it was a reverse effect of how the previous games went.
"We came out strong in that game," he explained. "Then they came back and just chiselled away (at the lead)."
Yorkton led up until the third inning but Alcorn said they pretty much gave it away after that, adding that the winds took away from their ability to hit the long ball out of the park."Strong winds took away from the home run ball. We lost our home run ball."
Alcorn suggested that his team wasn't overly confident and were level-headed going into the Prince Albert game.
"It was largely successful," he told the paper. "We've missed a lot of games to (bad) weather. It's been tough to get together as a team," says Alcorn of a season that's now done and they only had 14 games of experience together before the weekend's tournament.
Alcorn closed by thanking the many volunteers and the tournament's organizers Karen Marshall. "They did a heck of a job."
