The Grey Lions are two wins away from being repeat Alberta West Central Baseball Association champions.
Playing Game 3 of their semi-final series against the St. Albert Cardinals on Aug. 19 at Keller Field, the Grey Lions easily handled their opponents en route to a 10-1 win.
With the win, the Grey Lions have earned a championship series match-up with the Fort Saskatchewan A’s. Grey Lions manager Rick Sereda said he expects the series to start on Aug. 27.
The key to the Grey Lions’ success last week was the pitching performance they received from Carmen Brown, Sereda said.
“He was fantastic,” he said, explaining how Brown threw five innings of one-hit ball.
On the offensive side, the Grey Lions saw a return to form after watching their bats get silenced in Game 2, a 4-1 loss in St. Albert.
“Our bats came alive tonight, which really deflated their balloon,” Sereda said.
After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the second, the Grey Lions wasted no time tying the game and taking the lead.
In the bottom of the second, the team scored twice, and never looked back.
They scored four more runs in the bottom of the third, and tacked on four more in the fifth.
“The offense was a team performance,” Sereda said. “We scored four runs in two different innings. Any time you can bunch your hits together like that, you’re going to have success.”
The championship series against Fort Saskatchewan is going to be a chance for revenge, as the A’s knocked the Grey Lions out of the 2013 Canadian National Oldtimers Baseball Championships on Aug. 4 in Edmonton.
In order to knock off the A’s in the best-of-three series, Sereda said the Grey Lions are going to need to pitch well, and make the best of the hits they get.
“We’re not a powerhouse offensive team,” he said.
“We’re going to need to string a bunch of hits together.”
