Going into the all-star break in the North Central Alberta Baseball League, the Westlock Red Lions are near the top of the pack.
The Lions are currently sitting in third place with a 11-4-1 record, just one win behind the second-place Camrose Axemen and three behind the Edmonton Blackhawks.
A tie against the fourth-place Stony Plain Mets last Thursday kept the Lions in the third-place position, but with several games left to play the Lions can’t take anything for granted.
“Standing-wise we’re right where we want to be. The teams ahead of us have some tough games coming up, so if we play our baseball we’ll be right where we need to be at the end of the year,” manager Adam Sawatzky said.
For the all-star game — scheduled for today, July 22, in Camrose — Sawatzky was chosen as manager of the Beverly Optimists, one of the two all-star teams in the league, because the Lions were in second place when the teams were chosen.
To fill the two teams, the league’s managers vote on the top player for each position, then the managers of the two teams fill in the rest of the roster.
Just one Red Lion was voted on to the list — Nathan Brown.
“Of the three outfielders Nathan was the top vote-getter,” he said. “With his batting average and defensive play, he’s definitely earned that.”
Brown and Sawatzky will be joined by Stu Schroeder, Jordan Brand, Aaron Watamaniuk and Sean Beaudoin.
While the all-star game doesn’t count at all in terms of standings, there’s a real sense of pride in seeing the players from your team perform well.
“I know each guy wants to do well to represent his team well,” Sawatzky said. “You want to play well and have success as an all-star team, but you want to represent your team well and be prideful of the guys you bring to the all-star game.”
In terms of individual players, some of the Lions are really excelling so far this season — some of the best players in the league hail from Westlock.
Brown’s batting average of .552 puts him in the number-one spot on the entire league, and he’s one of just three players to post a better-than-half batting average. Schroeder’s .390 also puts him in the Top 20.
The Lions’ pitching hasn’t been strong enough for first-place recognition, but Sawatzky’s ERA of 1.06 puts him in third place in the league, which isn’t exactly a weak showing.
