In South East Senior Baseball League (SESBL) action the Alexander's Junior Cardinals shutout the visiting Swan River Reds 13-0 at Jubilee Park Sunday afternoon.
Junior Cardinals' head coach Brian Trollope says he used three pitchers who worked for the first time this season. Mark Jacobs, who hasn't pitched for some timed, started, throwing for five solid innings. Luke Boechler came in at the top of the sixth and retired the Reds in order. Boechler, who threw off speed pitches at this stage may have confused Swan River batters with the change in ball velocity. It was the first time he's pitched since his bantam days, Trollope suggests. Scott Sharpe, who also played left field, closed for the Junior Cards.
Cardinals hitters homed in on Reds' pitchers to bring in 13 runs. Logan Calanchie, Dalane Lamb, Breadon Ferch and Scott Sharpe hit the ball very well. Sharpe, for example, hit a pair of back-to-back doubles to drive in four runs earning him four RBIs.
Sharpe, who caught a couple of fly balls in left field, says it was tough to gauge the trajectory of the balls with the wind blowing them away. "I had to really track them," he says. The wet field was also a factor in the game, he suggests.
Sharpe describes his back-to-back doubles, "A couple of outside pitches, I just threw the bat at them and they ended up dropping for extra bases, so that was pretty good."
In closing the game on the mound, Sharpe says he threw some curve balls. It was windy and he just wanted to finish. "It's a fun game too. It's senior (baseball) and they were having fun too. It was a good chance for us to get guys in positions that they don't normally play," he closes.
Sunday evening the Junior Cardinals scored a 14-3 win over the Melville Bison in Melville.
"It was just one of those nights. Every time we hit the ball it just fell in place," comments Junior Cardinals assistant coach Gary Lamb.
The Junior Cards scored two runs in the first inning, seven in the second, and five in the third, Lamb reports.
Daniel Lamb hit the ball down the left field line to score two runs in the first inning.
In the second inning, it seemed like there was an eruption of hits and runs, he suggests. "There was only one error in that whole mess of runs," Lamb adds.
Mark Jacobs started the ball rolling with a single in the second seven run inning. "I think we scored six runs before we made an out. It was just a matter of everybody hit the ball last night," Lamb recalls. Yorkton hitters included Daniel Lamb, Jacobs, Logan Calanchie, Ross Stillborn, and Dalane Lamb.
"It was just a really good ball game. We were up 11-0 at one point," Lamb closes.
The wins tie the Junior Cards for first place in the SESBL with the Canora Supers with each team having 16 points. The Supers have played 11 games while the Junior Cards have only completed nine games. In percentage terms, the Junior Cardinals lead the league with an .889 winning percentage.
