After a disappointing season-opening loss against the Sherwood Park Athletics last Thursday, the Westlock Red Lions put one in the win column last Sunday.
The 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Blackhawks was a great result for the season opener, considering how tight the defence was for both teams, and brings the Red Lions back up to 0.500 in the North Central Alberta Baseball League.
“We had kind of an off game Thursday, and now we’re ready to go,” manager Adam Sawatzky said. “This is the team I expected us to be today.”
Thursday’s game ended with an 11-6 loss not because of any great skill from the Athletics, but mostly due to some missed opportunities and botched plays by the Red Lions.
“Our pitchers only gave up four hits in the game, but we were in the double digits with walks and hit batters combined, and we also had four errors,” he said. “That’s not a recipe for success.”
The pitching and defence tightened right up this game, with few hits and no errors. Both sides played strong defence, with no points getting on the board until the bottom of the fifth inning.
Pat Rains got on base with a single, and a big homerun from T.J. Oliwa put the first points on the board.
The sixth inning was then pretty quiet, but things again got tense at the top of the seventh. The Blackhawks got a couple runners on base, and scored a single point on a triple. There were two runners left on base with just one out, but an impressive double play at third and first put the game to bed.
While it was a strong defence that held the line for the Lions, Sawatzky said everyone in the batting lineup held up their end of things, as well.
“I thought all through the lineup everyone had a good approach at the plate,” he said. “We faced a really tough pitcher and he was on his game, but nobody looked overpowered or out of place.”
The Red Lions will head into Edmonton this Thursday to face the Athletics before returning to Keller Field May 21 to face the Sturgeon Paladins.
