The Yorkton Alexanders Junior Cardinals hosted the provincial junior baseball championships at Jubilee Park over the weekend. Tournament coordinator, Junior Cardinals head coach Brian Trollope says eight teams, two from Saskatoon and six from the Optimist League, were on hand to battle for the provincial junior AAA title.
Trollope says while he was the official host, the Junior Cardinals staff and players all pitched in to do a great job to make the tournament successful.
The boys played well all weekend, says Trollope. "There's no shame in losing to the two teams we lost to," he states. Both teams came to play Sunday. A couple of errors at the end of the game proved costly.
"This is an elite level," Trollope points out. "When you're playing in the elite level, you've got to be on fire all the time."
The Junior Cardinals aren't quite done yet. The Southeast Senior Baseball League (SESBL) finals will wrap up baseball in Yorkton this week or next as the cards square off with the Willowbrook Royals in the best of five games final series.
Willowbrook, who started the SESBL season with five losses, have had a remarkable turnaround to become a finalist for the league title. "We're not taking them lightly at all. They're a good team. I think we're ready for them," Trollope closes.
Team statistician Barry Calanchie briefly described the results of the Junior Cardinals games. The Cardinals started out strong, winning their first game against Moose Jaw 10-0. Logan Calanchie went the distance on the mound pitching a complete game shutout.
Calanchie went three for four. Dalane Lamb had two hits in two trips to the plate. Jayden Shwaga hit twice in three at bats.
The Cardinals mercied the Regina Athletics 14-1 in the second game of the tournament. Jared Inkster pitched the full five innings for Yorkton.
In batting Calanchie had a pair of hits in three times at bat and scored three runs. Ross Stillborn had a pair of hits in three trips to the plate and scored three runs. Inkster was two for four with a run scored. Ben Walchuk had two hits in four times at bat.
The Cardinals also mercied the Saskatoon Dodgers 11-0 after six innings in their third game. Stillborn, the winning pitcher in the game. He had a pair of hits in three times at bat which included a triple. He also scored two runs.
Jason Fechter had three hits in four at bats with a double and three runs scored.
After three strong opening games, the Junior Cardinals seemed to hit the wall, losing their semi-final game Sunday morning to the Regina Red Sox who claimed a narrow 3-2 win.
Barrett Nielsen pitched the complete seven inning game, giving up three runs, two of them earned runs and struck out eight opposing batters.
Fechter pounded out a solo home run at the bottom of the sixth inning.
In their final game of the tournament for third and fourth place the Junior Cardinals took a 3-0 lead into the seventh inning before disaster struck.
The Saskatoon Dodgers who the Junior Cardinals had mercied 11-0 a day earlier rallied for five seventh inning runs to claim a 5-3 win to clinch third place in the tournament.
Calanchie went two for two with a run scored. Stillborn was two for three.
