After a lack of available players caused a cancellation of high level Midget aged baseball in the city of Yorkton, a group of talented young ballplayers was formed this spring in an attempt to revitalize the game amongst Yorkton's teenage baseball talents as the Yorkton Midget AA Cardinals returned to action for a full 2014 season.
Finishing with a winning record in regular season AA play, finishing in the top half of the province in doing so, the Cardinals would host 2014 Saskatchewan Midget AA Baseball Provincials at Jubilee Park over the weekend with a chance to earn a spot at the 2014 Western Canadian Baseball Championships in Swift Current.
Placed in a pool with the best team in the province in the Swift Current Indians, the Cardinals would avoid the Indians in pool play as the two top teams in the group would miss out on playing each other by the luck of the draw. Both would go undefeated over the weekend, with Swift Current easily finishing in first place on run differential by allowing just one run over the round robin.
Yorkton would finish off their undefeated pool play on Sunday morning against the Saskatoon Athletics following a wet Saturday that pushed many games back into the night thanks to heavy rainfall during the afternoon. The layoff didn't appear to hurt the Cardinals, who roared out to an early lead before holding on with some steady relief pitching to secure a 5-4 win and momentum heading into the semifinal against the Northeast Red Sox.
Resting ace Tyson Black in the early game to ensure their best pitcher would be starting the game in which Yorkton would be looking to beat a team that had their number all season in the Red Sox, the Cardinals would bat first and put lone third year player Mason Kelley on second base with one out. Unluckily for Yorkton the next batter would rip a hot shot to the shortstop who would tag out Kelley for the double play.
The next inning would see Yorkton to threaten to score again as this time the Cardinals would put runners on second and third with a sacrifice opportunity, scoring two runs through Caleb Bymak and Mason Kelley before the runs were called back after the pitcher Black was controversially called out on baserunner interference.
Taking back what would have been a Cardinals 2-1 lead the Red Sox instead saw themselves in a two out situation with Bymak and Kelley being forced to return to their bases following an umpire review, something that proved to be a turning point after a well hit ball to the middle of the outfield was tracked down by the Northeast centerfielder who kept the Cardinals from cashing in runners in scoring position with less than two outs.
Northeast would again take advantage of some fielding miscues by the Cardinals, scoring on two wild throws to third base to add to their tally as after the called back runs that would have given Yorkton the lead things went the way of the Red Sox from that point forward.
In the end the Cardinals would drop their only game of the tournament to the Red Sox in a 6-0 final, but finishing with a 27-20-2 record after having no team just one season ago the Midget AA Cardinals season could be considered nothing but a massive success. Something that manager Tony Black echoed following the game.
"The guys on this team are younger and they came to play today," said Black. "Unfortunately we got outplayed, but we knew that it would be a tough game coming in and it was a good lesson learned for our team."
On the controversial calls that swung against Yorkton, Black backed the umpires decisions in what the manager deemed were judgement calls on 50/50 plays where the decisions could have went either way.
"Looking back at the decisions that were made, they are judgement calls," mentioned Black. "We don't feel that we lost the came because of any umpire and feel that the officials did the best they could in the situations during the game."
"They made their decisions and I questioned their calls which they explained to me and I was satisfied with their answers," closed Black on the topic of the tough decisions the umpires were forced to make in the game, including a protest for an improper lineup submitted by the Red Sox where the Northeast player numbers did not match their submitted starting lineup.
Black was happy with the way that the Cardinals return to Midget AA baseball went in 2014, finishing with a winning record on a team that should have many returning players. Enough in fact that Black feels the city could support two Midget ballclubs if their numbers can continue to grow.
"We were seven games over .500 for a young team and the teams we played often had senior players throughout their lineups but the players game to play and we gave everyone we came across a good game."
"There is definitely a lot of potential here, we just have to keep getting the kids out to play," said Black. "With Yorkton's numbers we could have two quality Midget teams in the city so the future is definitely bright for Midget baseball in the city."
