Sitting four games out of the WMBL playoffs, the Cardinals kept their playoff hopes alive Tuesday night with a 3-1 win over the Weyburn Beavers.
Sitting four games back of the Beavers for the league's final playoff spot, the Cardinals took advantage of a gem of a pitching performance from Dylan Tye en route to a victory that places them within three games of the playoffs after a sloppy start to the season.
Andrew Tindell provided the batting heroics for the Cardinals knocking in the game winning RBI in the seventh inning while the aforementioned Tye went all nine innings, allowing only three hits and striking out nine Beavers batters in what might be the pitching performance of the season for the Cards.
The Cardinals lost 7-0 on the road to the Beavers July 5 making Tuesday's game all that more sweet for the Cardinals. In the 7-0 loss Brayon Colley got his twentieth and twenty-first steals of the season, making him the WMBL leader.
Other Cardinals action in the week saw Yorkton notch a 4-3 win over the defending champion Regina Red Sox on the road off of a three run second inning and a four inning relief performance from Gabe Cook. The win was the Cardinals first win over the Red Sox after losing three straight to the defending champs. The Red Sox however avenged their defeat with a 6-1 victory on Saturday. A three run bottom of the eighth for the Red Sox was the decisive factor in the win, taking the sails out of any hope of a Cardinals ninth inning rally. Red Sox catcher Cody Maas was the player of the game, notching a home run and two RBI's in the Red Sox win.
The Cardinals only other action of the week was a 9-4 loss to the Saskatoon Yellow Jackets in a East/Central Division match up. After coming out strong and earning a 2-0 lead after a Andrew Tindell home run the Cardinals imploded in the third inning as Saskatoon put up five runs on Travis Donahoo. Yorkton added two runs in the bottom of the eighth to whittle down the lead to 7-4, but the Yellow Jackets countered with two runs of their own in the top of the ninth and left Jubilee Park with the win.
So after another up and down week the Cardinals find themselves counting their blessing as they still sit three games back of the Weyburn Beavers for that all important final playoff spot. With fourteen games to play and only one game left against the Beavers, the Cardinals will need help from other teams as well as themselves if they want to make a run in the season's final half to advance to the second season.
Key games are approaching this weekend as the previously mentioned final game between the Beavers-Cards takes place in Weyburn before the Cards extend their road trip to East Division rivals Melville and Regina before hosting Swift Current Monday and Tuesday in inter-division play.
