WESTLOCK – The Westlock Red Lions and Parkland Twins will square off for the North Central Alberta Baseball League crown this week after both dominated their respective semifinal series.
The Red Lions, who are in pursuit of their 19th NCABL title, punched their ticket to the finals with a two-game sweep of the Fort Saskatchewan Reds. Game 1, played Aug. 19 in Fort Saskatchewan, was decidedly close until the Red Lions broke it open with six runs in the fifth inning and prevailed 9-1. Back home in the friendly confines of Keller Field Aug. 21, the Red Lions went up 10-0 after the first two innings and cruised to a 13-3 win.
“It was a team that I definitely thought we could beat. Game 1 they held us pretty tight until we were able to break away and then today we were able to get up big early. We were hitting the ball well and our pitching was dominant,” said player/manager Chris Brand, amidst the background noise of cars in the annual fair demolition derby.
Meanwhile the Twins decimated the St. Albert Cardinals 11-1 in Game 1 of their best of three, then eked out an 8-7 win in Game 2.
Brand said it’s fitting these two clubs will square off for the title as the Twins were the class of the league in the regular season and won the pennant with a 17-3 mark and a 173 to 68 run differential. The Red Lions were nearly as dominant and finished second with a 14-6 record and scored 170 runs while only allowing 53.
The Red Lions, who went 1-3 against the Twins in the regular season and dropped two of those games by three runs total, are more than hungry for the title after falling in the league championship final the past two years to the Sherwood Park Athletics.
“We’re focused on Parkland, they’re a good club. We’re going to have to play as clean as possible in order to beat them. It’s exciting, we’re definitely looking forward to it,” said Brand. “We’re a veteran club. We haven’t won the championship in the past two years so we’ll be coming out hard.”
Game 1 of the best of three goes Thursday night in Spruce Grove, then the clubs will be in Westlock Aug. 27 at Keller Field for Game 2 which starts at 2 p.m. Game 3, if necessary, will be played the following day in Spruce Grove at 2 p.m.
