CARLYLE - The dream season for the Carlyle Cardinals senior baseball team continues, and they aren't finished playing yet.
The Cardinals defeated the Standard Hill Lakers 5-3 Sunday in Yorkton to win the Baseball Sask Senior AA Tier 2 provincial championship. The win came two weeks after the Cardinals captured the Saskota Baseball League championship for the fourth consecutive year by winning the Jack Harbourne Memorial Trophy.
"We hit quite well, actually, and we had great pitching performances," said player-coach Brent McLean.
It's the Cardinals' first provincial title since 2016. McLean believes four players on this year's team were part of the 2016 entry.
Carlyle dropped its opening game of provincials 4-2 to the host Yorkton Marlins on Saturday. McLean said they hadn't played in two weeks, so it took a while to get into an offensive rhythm.
"I think we only had three hits, and everybody got into the swing of things after that. That was probably the turning point, was getting some at bats under our belt," said McLean.
They recovered to defeat the North Battleford Beavers 7-5 later in the day.
Carlyle rattled off three straight wins on Sunday. Up first was an 11-6 win over the Saskatoon Rockies. Then they crushed Standard Hill 18-1 in a game the Cardinals needed to win to keep their season alive. Standard Hill had already punched its ticket to the final.
"We thought we'd do well in the final game of the round robin, just because that game didn't mean a whole heck of a lot for Standard Hill at that time, but we knew we were going to get their best in the final," said McLean.
In the final against Standard Hill, the Cardinals were down 3-1 after four innings, but scored four in the fifth and then stymied the Lakers' offence.
"We had a couple of timely hits, and Kody Rock shut the door. He was as good as ever in that game. He struck out eight of the first nine batters he faced."
The Cardinals were pretty exhausted by the end of the final, McLean said.
"We only had 10 players at times during the week, and we finished with 11, but it was a lot of games in a matter of two days," said McLean.
McLean expressed thanks to the Cardinals' fans who travelled to Yorkton to watch the action. Some were supporters who don't have a familial connection to the team.
The Cardinals are now preparing to compete at Western Canadians in Oak River, Man., from Aug. 18-20. It marks the first time the Cards have ever made it to a Western event.
They qualified thanks to their runner-up finish at Tier 1 provincials last year.
Joining Carlyle will be the host Oak River Dodgers, Manitoba's Border West All Stars, Alberta's Parkland Twins and B.C.'s South Delta Brewers.
McLean said they are looking forward to playing these top teams from elsewhere in the country.
•••
Two other teams were at provincials this weekend. The Redvers A's competed at the Senior AA Tier 3 tournament in Gull Lake. They finished tied with the Unity Cardinals and the North East Red Sox for first in the round robin with a 3-1 record, but the A's missed out on the final on a tie-breaker.
Redvers defeated the Gull Lake Greyhounds 19-10, the Red Sox 4-3 and the Cabri River Rats 11-2, but lost 9-7 to Unity.
The Arcola Threshers were at the Tier 4 tournament in Regina, where they went 1-3. They won 22-18 over the Rosetown Angels, but lost 6-4 to the Pasqua Angels, 14-1 to the Macklin Lakers and 19-8 to the Regina Red Dogs.
