A wet summer has been a letdown for the Western Major Baseball League, but flooding throughout the Canada Day long weekend officially put the local ballclub's seasons on hold as Yorkton and Melville experienced heavy rain that wiped out play for the near future as both the Cardinals and Millionaire's fields were unplayable in addition to the serious flooding in Melville closing off Highway 10 all but forcing the cancellation of Canada Day baseball.
Perhaps it was in good taste as more serious issues have crept into the minds of many in the area who have been affected by the flooding of the Parkland area. Many having their basements flooded with water overflowing thanks to heavy storms that did not let up over the weekend.
As for an on the field impact for the Cardinals the rain wiped away not only the conditions at Jubilee Park with large pools of rain, but also a huge opportunity to get back on track after falling to 7-11 before the long weekend. Playing all of their games at home, the rain effectively delayed the Cardinals homestand as well as a chance to play in front of the traditionally large Canada Day crowds that flock the ballpark for some Canadian baseball on Canada's birthday. Something that first year Cardinals player and Yorkton native Derek Marshall noted was a bit of a disappointment after getting excited for the homestand before Mother Nature reared her ugly head.
"Growing up in Yorkton you know Canada Day is a big event in town every year and whenever the Cardinals play usually a big crowd comes out to watch some ball at Jubilee Park so it was definitely something all of the guys as well as myself were looking forward to," says Marshall who played college ball down south in Illinois before coming back home to play his summer ball in Yorkton to no surprise.
Beyond the cancellation of the ballgames was the Cardinals eagerness to get back to work after dropping two games to the Medicine Hat Mavericks, something Marshall noted has the Cardinals motivated and ready to get back into the win column.
"After getting back to .500 and dropping a few games before the weekend all of the guys want to get back onto the field and get back to work," Marshall says. "With a good chunk of games at home after starting off on the road a lot this is a good chance for us to get back on track so the cancellations definitely have been a bit of a setback."
Another factor that the rain delays present is the effect that doubleheaders and a compressed schedule will have on players, particularly the pitching staff which will surely be stretched out the more games get pushed back into an already busy final month of the season for Yorkton. As it stands, the Cardinals play 27 games in 28 days to complete their WMBL regular season schedule before a potential run in the playoffs. Something that Marshall admits will be a grind for every team in the league going forward.
Marshall, a utility player mostly playing second base for the Cardinals despite pitching often during his Yorkton Minor Baseball career relates to the pitchers who he knows are going to have a rough slate of work left ahead of them as games continue to pile up on the back end of the 2014 WMBL schedule across the league.
"Anytime you are playing these many games in a short amount of time it is going to be a grind on arms as well as bodies just to play out a long schedule," Marshall explains while adding he hopes that the wet weather is behind us. "Hopefully the rainouts can stop for awhile so we can get this schedule played out."
As for an off the field impact with so many homes seeing basement flooding thanks to the unfortunate recent weather events, Marshall says that the Cardinals have seen billets homes affected by rain spilling into basements and notes that the players have been trying to help out as much as possible.
"Lots of players billets have had their homes flooded so all the players have been trying to help out with fixing some of the damage, getting water out of basements and whatever else we can do to get through this and get back to baseball when the weather finally clears up."
The Cardinals are scheduled to play four games at home next week. Hosting the Regina Red Sox on July 4 and July 7 before hosting the Melville Millionaires on July 8 as they return to action. Hopefully for good as the city looks to return from Mother Nature delaying life as well as Canada Day this week.
