The Westlock Red Lions will advance to the North Central Alberta Baseball League finals versus the Edmonton Blackhawks this coming weekend.
At the NCABL semifinals at Keller Field Aug. 17-18, the Red Lions clinched their semifinal series with a 3-2 Sunday afternoon victory over the Camrose Axemen in Game 3. The Blackhawks also needed three games to advance past the Sherwood Park Athletics.
“I’m really proud of our team,” said Red Lions skipper Adam Sawatzky. “We lost the first game and it was a tough game. We came away with a positive attitude because we did a lot of things right. We talked about it and everybody knew what we had to do coming back, and we did everything perfectly in the final two games.”
The Lions started off slow in the first game of the series losing 3-0 to the Axemen on Saturday morning.
Undaunted the club rebounded in Game 2 and rolled to a much-needed 11-3 victory to extend the series to a third and deciding game.
And in that final game on Sunday, the Lions edged the Axemen 3-2 to claim their spot in the league championship. It was tied 1-1 until the fifth inning when Dustin Nyal launched a home run to give the club a lead.
“I don’t really think it matters who we face,” said Sawatzky, before the Blackhawks had downed the Sherwood Park Athletics to secure their spot in the finals. “We’re going to like our chances going in either way.”
The league championships series between the Red Lions and Blackhawks will be played at Footz Field in Edmonton on Aug. 24-25. Game 1 starts on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., while Game 2 goes at 4:30 p.m. Game 3 if necessary goes Sunday at 2 p.m.
