A pair of wins last week bumped the Westlock Red Lions up two spots from fourth- to second-place in the North Central Alberta Baseball League.
The Lions defeated the Sherwood Park Athletics 4-1 on home turf last Tuesday evening, before earning an 8-1 win against the Sturgeon Paladins in Bon Accord on Thursday evening.
“I don’t think I could have asked for a better script so far, because we’re still yet to play our best baseball,” manager Adam Sawatzky said. “That’s pretty crucial for us. As we get closer to the end of the year we want to be doing our best going down that stretch and driving.”
The Lions have had a very strong performance so far this year, with last week’s wins improving their record to 11-4. The Edmonton Blackhawks are holding on to first place with a 12-3 record.
Following Tuesday’s game against the Athletics, Sawatzky said the win was exactly what the boys needed, particularly against a team that has given them trouble in the past.
“I’m really happy with everybody’s performance tonight,” he said. “They can be an agitating team, and I thought we kept our cool. Everyone did their jobs and we got the win.”
While a run in the first and a trio of runs in the second inning gave the Lions a comfortable 4-0 lead early on, the Athletics put on some pressure in the fifth by scoring one run and threatening several more. It looked as though the Lions lost a bit of their focus, but some strong fielding held the Athletics at bay.
“I don’t know if we lost focus; things kind of got away from us but we had a little chat in the infield and settled things down,” Sawatzky said.
That win also was the realization of one of the team’s major goals with they set out this year.
“My goal against what we identified as the top teams in the league was to split against them all year,” Sawatzky said. “We split against the Blackhawks, we’ve earned our split against these guys, and we swept Camrose, which was a bonus.”
The win against the Sturgeon Paladins was also important in terms of the Lions’ standings, but the last-place Paladins haven’t given the Lions too much trouble this year.
The next big task will be to beat the Stony Plain Mets, another top-four team in the league, this week.
The Red Lions face the Mets in Stony Plain this Wednesday, July 16, before returning to Keller Field in Westlock July 23 to play the Edmonton Indians and July 25 to play the Barrhead Orioles.
