Two weeks ago, the Westlock Red Lions’ season teetered on a knife’s edge.
Now, following a single-game playoff victory and back-to-back weekend wins over the Stony Plain Mets, the club will play for a North Central Alberta Baseball League title.
Sitting at 8-8 in the NCABL standings to finish the year, the club needed a miracle to make the post season, as the St. Albert Cardinals only needed a single win to claim the fourth and final playoff berth.
But back-to-back Cardinal losses forced a one-game playoff between St. Albert and Westlock on Aug. 14.
That’s where the Red Lions scored an improbable 4-1 victory over the Cardinals to punch their ticket to NCABL semifinals held Aug. 19 and 20 in Westlock.
However, the semis couldn’t have started any worse for the club as they were crushed 18-0 by the Mets in Game 1.
But as they’ve done all year, the Red Lions rallied with a 3-0 Game 2 win, followed by an 8-3 victory on Sunday.
And just like that, the Red Lions will play for the NCABL championship title Aug. 26.
“It feels amazing,” said Red Lions skipper Adam Sawatzky, after the Game 3 victory.
“We had Chris Brand bringing us a big home run in Game 3, Taylor Heck with some great catches on third base, and some great timely hitting by Kris Johnston — we were a determined team.
“The first game, everything just went their way, and the hits just got away from us a little more than we realized.”
He went on to say that the team wasn’t done yet, not by a long shot.
“We’ve beaten them before and we’ll beat them again.”
Sawatzky took the mound in Game 2 and set the pace with a quick strikeout of the first batter.
From there, the club went to work and showed that Game 1 was an aberration.
“Good pitching, timely hitting, and a good defence is the way to success,” Sawatzky said following the contest.
“I think maybe they wasted all their hits in the first game.”
Game 3 waited until the following Aug. 20 morning and started out with three runs by the Red Lions in the first.
“We are a determined team today,” Sawatzky said.
By the fifth inning the Red Lions were up 5-0 and on cruise control. A home run from Brand in the sixth inning made it 8-0, and the Mets were done.
The NCABL championship series goes Saturday, Aug. 26 with the first game at 1 p.m. and the second at 4 p.m. at RE/MAX Field in Edmonton. The club will take on the Sherwood Park Athletics, who won their semi-final series against the Edmonton Blackhawks on Aug. 20 with a 5-0 win in Game 3 of the series.
