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After taking home field advantage from the Ryley Rebels with a game one victory on Tuesday night, the A's were looking to eliminate the reigning PBL Champions from playoffs on Thursday night.  The fans were out, especially thanks to a Yuha reunion on the weekend for a fantastic night for playoff baseball.

Ryan Yuha was tasked with shutting down the potent Rebels offence.  Yuha has been great down the stretch run, as the A's having been playing playoff baseball since the second half of the season started.  Yuha did his job, as he kept the ball down and forced the Ryley hitters to hit their way on base.  A couple of errors in the third inning came back to haunt the A's, as the Rebels clean up batter hit a 2 run homerun that ended up being the difference.

Offensively, Rosalind got decent production from a majority of the order, but were not able to capitalize on opportune situations with runners in scoring position.  Steve Enright lead the way with a 2 for 2 effort along with a walk.  Clayton Harbak also had 2 knocks, including a booming smash off the right center fence yet again.  Overall, the game was there for the taking, but the Athletics left too many runners in scoring position.

The final game of the series goes on Tuesday in Ryley at 7pm.  Based on the first two games, fans should be in for another exciting game.

The Rosalind Athletics car pooled north to Ryley to take on the reigning 2014 PBL Champions and the 2015 regular season pennant holders.  The Rebels finished first in the PBL, with dominante pitching that lead the league with the fewest runs against, and a slugging offence that was near the top in runs for.  The A's have been playing much better as of late, with the last two weeks of the season, having a playoff atmosphere on a game by game basis.

Brayden Benson got the playoff game start for the Athletics.  Benson was coming off a 'A' final victory versus Spring Lake in the Rosalind tournament, where his pitched very well against a strong Lakers lineup.  His ability to continually keep his fastball down in the zone, induce ground balls and use his defence behind him made a great choice to start off the playoffs.  The turning point of the game was Benson pitching out of a vital jam in the third inning, with the bases loaded and none out, a ground out, cruical strikeout and a flyout ended the inning.  Brayden ended up going 6 1/3 in the victory with 3 strikeout and 3 walks.  Ryan Yuha came in to close out the game courtesy of an acrobatic play by thirdbaseman Clayton Harbak snaring a line drive and doubling up the runner at third.

Offensively, the A's were able to take advantage of timely hitting, five walks and a few errors defensively by the Rebels to drive in runs early in the game.  Ryan Yuha and Josh Burnstad both had multiple hit nights.  Clayton Harbak hit a classic Harb hot streak double off the wall in the right center gap.  Burnstand and Harbak supplied two RBI nights, while Yuha, Matt Enright, and Sheldon Pederson each had one a piece. 

Rosalind played a sound defensive game, with a few highlight plays at key turning points of the game.  Nic Ronsko ran like a deer to track down a line drive in the right center gap that was labelled for extra bases.  Adam Enright was busy in left field, and jumped up at the fence to bring a ball back for a flashy fly ball out.  Whether the ball would have been fair was made irrelevant by the heady play by the shortstop turned reliable outfielder.

Game two of the semi finals goes Thursday night in Rosalind at 7pm.  Make sure all the A's fans come out to see some quality summer baseball.

Follow the Athletics on twitter @RosalindSports and check the PBL website at www.powerlinebaseball.com

The Rosalind A's travelled to Camrose to take on the Roadrunners in the last game of the regular season.  The previous meeting had almost all the guys leaving the diamond happy, as the game was rained out in the first inning.  Nic Ronsko wasn't as thrilled, as he was the last guy on the roster, and got hit by a pitch in pouring rain just before the rain was washed out.

Pitching by committee was the theme of the night, as the Athletics start playoffs on Tuesday night and tried to conserve arms while getting some valuable work in to keep the rotation fresh.  Mike Hilhorst got the call to lead off the parade of pitchers the A's would send to the mound.  The elder statesman on the team used the pop on the southpaw fastball to strike his way out of a multiple jams.  Saskatchewan boy, Mark Gjesdal was snapping off curveballs that had the Roadrunners catching more air that leather.  Steve Enright was next on the list, throwing two innings as the A's veteran kept Camrose off balance.  Lastly, the "widow maker", Matt Enright closed out the game and victory for the Athletics. Overall, Rosalind pitchers would collectively strikeout 10 while walking 9 Roadrunner batters.

On Tuesday night, Rosalind travelled to the loud and busy Fred John Park in Leduc for a showdown with the 5 time PBL champions.  The match up would be critical in one team securing the final playoff spot; win and you've got a chance, lose and your offseason starts in June.  In the first meeting of the season, the A's lost 7-1 in a game that was closer than the score projects, but equally troublesome as the Milleteers pitcher gave the A's hitters difficultly while racking up 12 strikeouts.

Rosalind sent the long haired hippy, Paul Ofirm, to the mound in a must win scenario.  "Paul has never let us down in big games, and we expect more of the same" Steve Enright said in pregame conversations, and the big man delivered.  The firefighter was throwing flames through 4 innings of solid work, as Ofirm left with a 2-1 lead.  Ryan Yuha came in to close the game for the A's, and did a great job of getting ahead of hitters and using the recently much improved defence behind him.

Offensively, the Athletics patience at the plate and aggressive baserunning produced runs throughout the game.  Adam Enright led the charge, as he was 2 for 3 with 2 RBI's;  the two runs that he cashed came with two outs in the 5th and gave the A's some breathing room the rest of the way.  Sheldon Pederson was seeing the ball well for the most part, and hit a one run double into the gap to score a run before Adams productive at bat.  Bart Orr showed a lot of heart and leadership, doing whatever it takes to get on base, as he was hit by pitches in two seperate AB's, as well as leading off the game with a single that would come around to score.  Ryan Yuha had eagle eyes, or the A's third batter was getting pitched around, as he had 3 walks.  Rosalind was pretty alert and aggressive on the basepaths, as they scored 3 runs on wild pitches back to the screen.

Goto http://powerlinebaseball.com/ for more info on the standings and schedule.

With their playoff hopes on the line, the Rosalind Athletics travelled to Holden to take on the Blue Jays.  The Jays currently hold the 4th and final playoff spot in the PBL race, but the A's and the Milleteers both have two games in hand.  The game marked the first of hopefully a few "must win" games for the Athletics.

Rosalind sent the reliable Dan Enright to the mound for the critical match up.  Enright has been a dominante pitcher not only for the A's this year, but throughout the league.  Outside of one inning, actually one grooved pitch, the Blue Jays couldn't figure out the A's right hander and often were buckled by the curveball that ZamZam was spinning.  Enright went the distance, pitching 7 innings, while only giving up 5 hits, striking out 6 with one walk.  Overall, exactly what the A's needed.

Offensively, the A's bats have come alive in the past few games.  Throughout the line up, Rosalind hitters were coming through with the clutch hitting that had eluded the A's during the first part of the season.   Ryan Yuha led the charge for the A's, in an 3 for 4 effort that cashed in 4 RBI's.  Clayton Harbak provided the early spark with a booming double driving in 2 of his 3 runs on the day.  Bart Orr crushed a two out, two RBI single that most importantly keep the momentum in the middle of the game on the Rosalind side of the ledger.  Adam Enright contributed a 3 for 4 performance with a big double, all while transitioning from SS to 2B.  Lastly, pitcher Dan Enright had a career night at the plate, as he went 3 for 3 with two RBI's.

After round robin victories versus Coronation and Castor, the Rosalind A's found themselves in the 'A' final of the tournament.  Spring Lake had advanced after a close game versus Armena and a blowout versus Camrose.

The Athletics decided to throw right hander Brayden Benson at the Lakers.  Benson did a fantastic job of pounding the strike zone and inducing a lot of fly balls to the outfield.  The young A's pitcher scattered 7 hits through a complete game, while striking out 3 and walking only 1.

Offensively, Rosalind put 11 hits on the board, against a good pitcher in Lance Zimmer and his effective curveball.  Steve Enright led the A's with 3 hits in his 4 plate appearances. While Matt Enright, Chance Wheatley, Brayden Benson and Kevin McDonald all had two hit appearances.  Clayton Harbak and Sheldon Pederson cashed in two run with sac flies to the outfield.  Ryan Yuha had the lone Athletics extra base hit.

In the second game of the home tournament for the Rosalind Athletics, the boys were matched up against the Castor Raiders.  With another victory, the A's would punch their ticket to the 'A' final against their rival and neighbours, Spring Lake.

With Rosalind battling for their playoff lives in the Powerline Baseball League, pitching depth was paramount leading into critical games later in the week.  Lefty Mike Hilhorst got the nod for the A's, for his 1st appearance of the season and his 2nd game.  Obviously Hilhorst's arm was fresh, as he continually blew pitches past the Raiders batters and buckled knees with a sweet curveball.

The batting lineup, top to bottom, put together a solid collective effort pushing the river to an 8-0 victory.  Chance Wheatly lead the way with a 2 for 3 performance,

The Rosalind Athletics took on the Coronation Cardinals in the opening game of the annual Rosalind Elks Slow Pitch and A's Baseball tournament weekend.  After two teams dropped out recently, the tournament was put together in two round robin pools of 3.  Rosalind grouped with the Castor Raiders and the Coronation Cardinals, while the Armena Royals, Spring Lake Lakers, and the Camrose Roadrunners were grouped in the other pool.

Veteran Kevin 'Skip' McDonald walked out to mound, with his knuckleball in tow.  McDonald did his job, inducing plenty of weak pop ups and rolled over ground balls.  Skip even danced a knuckleball down broadway to leave the Cardinals hitter confused as his walked back to the dugout with the strikeout.

The highlight of the game was pinch hitter Carter McDonald, son of pitcher Kevin McDonald being put into the game in the bottom of the fifth inning.  The Athletics were up 6-0 with two out and a runner on third.  The young fourteen year old took too mighty hacks, before slapping a single over the left side of the infield to score the runner and give the A's a walkoff mercy victory, up 7-0 after 5 innings.