WESTLOCK – The Westlock Red Lions will look to get back into the win column and rekindle an old rivalry when they face the Barrhead Orioles tomorrow night, May 24, at 7 p.m. at Keller Field.
Fresh off their first loss of the young North Central Alberta Baseball League season, a 6-5 defeat to the St. Albert Cardinals May 17, player/manager Chris Brand says they’re looking forward to facing the Orioles, who’ve been out of the NCABL since 2017. Through three games, the Cardinals are the class of the NCABL with a 3-0 record, while the Red Lions stand in second at 2-1 and the Orioles are in third at 1-1 — Fort Saskatchewan and Parkland remain winless on the year.
“We always look forward to playing Barrhead, it’s a good rivalry. We have some guys on the team who played with some of those kids in midget baseball, so they’re looking forward to facing their buddies,” said Brand.
In St. Albert May 17, the clubs were scoreless through the first three innings before the Cardinals struck for three runs in the fourth, a deficit that was quickly erased on a three-run homer from Regan Hoet. In the fifth the Cardinals went up again by two, but a single from Brand cashed in two runs to tie the game again.
The Cardinals though wouldn’t be denied on this night and went ahead to stay in the sixth as the Red Lions couldn’t muster another comeback.
“It was a back-and-forth game. I think we could have got on their pitching a little earlier, but it’s still early in the season so it is what it is,” said Brand.
“It’s good to be humbled every once and a while. We’re a team that thinks we can go out and win every game, but it’s going to take hard work and playing the game the right way. As the season progresses these kinds of lessons will help us.”
