OAK RIVER, Man. - The Carlyle Cardinals went 2-2 at the Western Canadian Baseball Championships that were held in Oak River, Man., from Aug. 18-20.
The Cardinals had an auspicious start, as they opened with a 13-1 loss to the host Oak River Dodgers on Aug. 18. Carlyle's lone run came in the bottom of the fifth, when Oak River already held a 10-0 advantage.
But Carlyle recovered and dished out a convincing 11-0 victory over Alberta's Parkland Twins later in the day. The Cardinals noted in a post on their Twitter feed that Daniel Rasmussen pitched a gem of a game on the mound, and the bats came alive in the game.
The lone game on Aug. 19 was a 4-0 shutout over B.C.'s South Delta Brewers. A tweet noted Kody Rock delivered as both a pitcher and as a hitter.
The Cardinals wrapped up the round robin with a game against Manitoba's Border West Allstars, with the winner of that game advancing to the final to face the host Dodgers. The Allstars won 14-0.
(Further details from the Cardinals' final three games were not available).
"Very proud of this crew and how they competed at one of the highest levels of baseball for senior ball," the Cardinals said in a post on Twitter.
The Cardinals qualified for Western Canadians after they finished second at the Saskatchewan Senior AA Tier 1 championships in 2022.
It was their first-ever appearance at Westerns.
It was another great year for the Cardinals. They went 11-1-2 in the regular season to finish with the best record in the Saskota Baseball League, and then they won their fourth straight Kim Harbourne Memorial Trophy as Saskota champions in July.
Then they brought home the Senior AA Tier 2 provincial title the weekend before Western Canadians.
