The Westlock Red Lions have finished their season in third place following an 8-5 victory over the Edmonton Warriors last Wednesday night.
The victory means they will face the second-place Camrose Axemen in the league semifinals this weekend instead of the first-place Edmonton Blackhawks, but manager Adam Sawatzky said he wouldn’t have been worried either way.
“We’ve played very well against both teams,” he said. “We swept Camrose and split against the Blackhawks. We always play them hard and play them well.”
He spoke highly of the Lions’ performance against the Warriors, as well. They came out to an early 4-0 lead in the first inning, gave up one run each in the second and third, then scored another four in the fifth inning.
“In that fifth inning we clutched up and had some timely hits,” Sawatzky said. “That’s always good coming towards playoffs when guys give you a timely hit — it’s not how many hits you get, it’s when you get them.”
Warriors briefly began to mount a bit of a comeback in the sixth, scoring three more runs, but the Lions shut it down before things got out of hand.
“We got off to that early lead and I don’t know if we sat back or felt content, but they tightened things up. Their pitcher settled things down,” he said.
The Lions finished their season with a commendable 13-5-2 record, although they have struggled a bit in the last couple weeks. Despite not having a huge amount of momentum going into the semifinals, Sawatzky said he’s confident the team will come through in stripes.
“I think normally I would be a little bit worried, but knowing this group of guys and the playoff experience we’ve had over the last couple of years, I think we’ll be able to regroup and bring it together,” he said. “Everybody has each others’ backs and have done everything they needed to do to be good teammates. I expect that to come to fruition during the playoffs.”
And if past results are any indication of future performance, the Lions will be very competitive. The 2013 playoffs saw the Lions beat Camrose in the semifinals before falling to the Blackhawks for the league title. In 2012 the Lions won the league title after beating Camrose in the final series.
The league semifinals will be hosted this year, as usual, at Keller Field in Westlock during the Westlock & District Ag Fair. The first game is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Saturday, with the Blackhawks taking on the Stony Plain Mets. The Lions’ first action will be 2 p.m. that day, with game two at the same time on Sunday followed by the third game, if needed, at 5 p.m.
