The Westlock Red Lions are now 1-1 in the North Central Alberta Baseball League regular season after an 8-4 loss to the Stony Plain Mets at Keller Field May 17.
While the Lions were able to take an early three-run lead, their momentum was cut short by a grand slam in the third inning that put the Mets up 5-3.
The Lions were able to get a run late in the third inning to narrow the Mets’ lead to one, but the Mets were able to keep the lead throughout the rest of the game.
“I think we were good at bats and being patient. We just didn’t quite execute with our timely hits and we left a lot of our runners on base,” said team manager Adam Sawatzky.
“I was impressed with Curtis Burlet, our second pitcher tonight. It was his first appearance of the year and he threw four pretty solid innings for us.”
The teams stayed evenly matched, trading a few perfect innings in the backfield before the Mets were able to hit a grounder between the first and second plate. A miscalculated dive by a Red Lions player sent the ball into the outfield and the Mets scored two runs on the play to take a 7-4 advantage.
From there on, it was almost all Stony Plain, who solidified their victory in the sixth inning to make it 8-4. The Mets then shut down a potential comeback for the Red Lions with two caught fly balls and a strikeout to close inning.
Despite the loss, the Red Lions were solid defensively, shutting down the Mets with two a number of stunning infield and outfield plays.
Sawatzky said that the defeat was disappointing and the Lions will pick through it to figure out what to work on for their next match up.
“We didn’t play out best game tonight, there were a lot of aspects which were off a bit slightly,” he said. “That’s normal for this time of the year. The next time we play them we’ll be prepared. We owe them one now.”
The Red Lions next game is May 25 in Sturgeon versus the Paladins.
“We know we can do better. And we will.”
The club is then set to host the Edmonton Athletics for a June 4 doubleheader at Keller Field. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
