The Yorkton Alex-ander's Junior Cardinals swept their crosstown rivals, the Yorkton Yankees, this past weekend to advance to the finals of the South East Senior Baseball League.
The Cardinals won the first game, Saturday, by a score of 8-2.
The following night featured a much tighter affair with the Cards' eventually coming out on top, 6-4.
As Cardinals coach Brian Trollope explains, the Yankees presented quite a challenge to the Cardinals.
Trollope says the Cardinals were not fooled by the Yankees relatively pedestrian regular season record.
"When they have all their players there, they're a very good team. Last night they put the fear of God in us," he says. ?
Part of the reason that the Sunday night game was so close was the pitching of the Yankees ace, Darren Wandy.
"Their number one pitcher, Darren Wandy, is very good,"?Trollope observes, "He's very good at what he does."
The Yankees had an up-and-down inaugural season in the SESBL. They were a formidable team, at times, but often struggled to field more than the required amount of players.
"They had trouble fielding a team a lot of times and were just grabbing pick-up's here and there to fill in spots,"?Trollope mentions, "But when they had their whole team, they were a very good team. I was surprised that they didn't win more games this year, quite honestly."
There is no such thing as a 'sure thing' in baseball. Trollope says he knew, heading into their semi-final matchup with the Yankees, that anything could happen.
"They beat us once in the regular season?(8-7)," he recalls, "We knew going in that if their whole team is there, we were going to have trouble."?
The Cardinals were able to come through in the series in large part due to some strong individual performances.
Trollope highlights the play of pitcher Justin Stupak, who stymied the Yankee hitting in Sunday's victory.
"He did a wonderful job," Trollope points out.
Logan Calanchie also had a stellar pitching outing for the Cardinals. Calanchie started the Saturday game and proceeded to throw 12 strikeouts in a complete game two-hitter.
As Trollope indicates, players like; Dane Kobylko, Mark Jacobs and Dalane Lamb, among many others, also contributed to the cause with timely hitting and solid position play.
With the semi-finals over and done with, the Cardinals will await the results of the other semi to determine their opponent for the SESBL title.
The winner of the series between the Willowbrook Royals and Melville Bison will emerge to face the Cards in a Best-of-Five series.
No time to rest for the squad, however.
The Alexander's Junior Cardinals are also hosting the Junior AAA Provincials 7-team?Championships this coming weekend.
The winner of that tournament will head to Nationals in Trois Rivieres, Quebec.
The second and third place finisher's in the tournament will go to Regina for the Western Championship.
Trollope says that his squad is definitely feeling positive heading into the weekend. The Cardinals confidence is buoyed by the depth of their roster when it comes to pitching.
"We're pretty confident. We've got a good team, we're deep in pitching and I think that, a lot of the times, (that) is your main problem when you get into a big series. We're a pretty confident group that we can win some games and see where it goes from there."?
It is a unique time of year for the Cardinals. With two 'championships' on their radar, Trollope says that he isn't worried about his team losing focus.
"The boys play for themselves. That's the key to it. Our boys play to win the games. It doesn't matter if it's senior or junior, the boys are out there," he explains. ?
In terms of priorities, Trollope says that his team has their eyes on just winning games, regardless of whether they are playing in the Junior or Senior circuits. Current Cardinals Dane Kobylko, Matt Poier and Dalane Lamb are only eligible to play when the team takes on 'Senior' league opponents.
Trollope says that regardless of whether or not they can participate in all of the games, the junior ineligible players are still a vital part of the team. This sentiment extends outwards to all the Junior Cardinals alumni, as well.
"Any former player that played with these guys are welcome on our bench to come and visit or whatever,"?Trollope says, "They'll always be a part of our team. We have a saying, 'Once a bird, always a bird' so I don't think it matters whether it's junior or senior as far as the excitement of it."
The Cardinals first game of the Junior AAA?Provincials will be on Friday, July 30, versus Lloydminster. The game will be at Jubilee Park starting at 3:30 p.m.
