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The Battle River League kicked off the second round of playoffs with the Rosalind Athletics travelling to Spring Lake, while the Heisler Cardinals were on the road to play the Coronation Cardinals.  Rosalind had dropped both of the league games to Spring Lake in the regular season, combined with the fact that Spring Lake has been piling on runs at will through the first round, providing a tough match up for the Rosalind team.

Dan Enright got the start for the Athletics on the mound in the "Field of Dreams"-esque ball park in Spring Lake.  The youngest Enright has made a name for himself as a big game pitcher, so its not surprise that the A's turned to 'Zam-Zam' to take home field advantage away from the Lakers.  Enright held the Lakers to a few scattered hits, and majority of ground outs through the first 3 innings.  A combination of 2 unfortunate errors and a couple solid hit balls allowed Spring Lake to tack on 5 runs in a hurry in the bottom of the forth inning.  Looking to change things up, the A's turned to sophmore Brayden Benson to turn the tides.  Benson shut the door in the three innings of relief, and gave the A's a chance to regain the lead and secure the victory.

Offensively, in a rare early inning dispaly, Rosalind pilled on five runs in the top of the first inning through a combination of a three doubles crushed in the outfield gaps and solidly hit singles through the infield.  Based on this early offensive success, which the 2014 A's have not been a custom to, the bats seemed to fall asleep through the middle innings, giving Spring Lake life and momentum to tied the game and eventually take the lead in the bottom of the 4th.  Playing from behind for the first time in the game, the still "not 100%" Steve Enright lead off the fifth inning with a single, and after back to back 2 out singles from the bottom of the order to tie the game. The A's were able to catch a break when Nic Ronsko's hard hit ball to center looked to be hauled in by Tanner Erickson, but the Spring Lake center fielder wasn't able to hold onto the ball to end the inning.  That run to put the A's up by two ended up being the insurance run that the A's needed to grab home field advantage back from the Lakers, with the 9-8 win.

Game two takes place in Rosalind at 6:30PM.  Note the earlier start time for the rest of Battle River League playoffs.  Come out and support the Athletics as they try to secure a spot in the finals for the fifth year in a row.  Also, be sure to follow the A's on twitter, as Steve Enright has been on fire lately, using up his teachers vactation to keep all the Rosalind fans hilariously entertained.

Game two of the Battle River League playoffs brought the Killam Braves to Rosalind on Thursday night.  The Athletics were able to secure a come from behind win on Tuesday, and were looking to close out the series at home and move onto the second round, presumably to take on the neighbouring Spring Lake Lakers.

The A's annointed Steve Enright with the task of shutting down the Killam hitters.  Enright was coming off a hip flexor injured suffered at the Allstar game, and hadn't pitched in 6 weeks.  Steve started off the game painting the black with his fastball, and as many opposing hitters have felt during his carrer, left Killams hitters shaking their head in utter confusion.  Enright took a no hitter into the 5th inning before a lead off seeing eye single got through the right side of the infield.  The young right hander ended up pitching 6 innings, giving up only 4 hits while striking out a season high three batters.  Matt Enright channelled his inner Ricky Vaughn, coming in to close the game with his devasting heater.

Offensively, the A's appear to be back on track, getting solid contribuations throughout the line up.  Ryan Yuha had more than a solid game at the plate, hitting a home run and barely missing a second on a ground rule double to the left center field gap.  Matt Enright also continued his hot streak, but without the same gamorous box score appeal, hitting 3 hard line drives to the center fielder, only to have a bloop over the right side of the infield find some green.  Baseball is a funny game like that.  Even with the speed of a snail and the hip that some 80 year olds would say "no thanks" to, Steve Enright was still able to turn a few hard hit doubles into singles.  Clayton Harbak contributed two hard hit singles, as did Adam Enright and Mike Hilhorst; and Sheldon Pederson hammered a double into the left center gap.  It was a pleasant sight to see so many successful at bats from all the players, so the guys try to stay sharp going into the second round.

The A's will be taking on the Spring Lake Lakers starting next Tueday, with game one of the series at 6:30PM in Spring Lake and then back to Rosalind for game two at 6:30PM at the good ol' ball park.  Make sure to come out and check out the baseball action.

Move over Derek Jeter, there's a new clutch playoff performer, Matt Enright, put the A's on his back and powered the squad to a comeback victory.

The team from Rosalind travelled to Killam to take on the Braves in the 4 versus 5 match up in the first round of Battle River League playoffs.  Rosalind had beat Killam twice in league play, 13-1 at home at the beginging of the season, and 6-2 in Killam in a thrilling game late in the year.

Rosalind sent youngster, and resisdent Battle River Rail employee, Brayden Benson to the mound.  Benson was on the hill in the last game against Killam, shutting down the capable Killam bats.  However, the Killam bats were hotter than a pistol to start the game, stringing 6 straight baserunners in a row.  Reluctantly, the A's brought in Brett Yuha to try to shut the door, and get out the inning.  What can't The Terminator do!!  With the help of a bullet that Matt Enright threw from left field to gun down a runner at home, the A's held the Braves to only 4 runs in the bottom of the first.  From there Brett Yuha threw another strong 3 innings before injuring his shoulder while sliding back into first base.  On 7 days rest, the A's turned the ball over to Ryan Yuha to close out the game. 

Offensively, Rosalind was in for a battle up against the hard throwing righty, Barry Truss, from the Killam Braves.  After the A's had surrendered 4 runs in the bottom of the first, Rosalind was able to draw a few walks and string together a few hits to rally back with 4 runs of their own in the second.  The game had the makings of a football score after an inning and a half.  Going into the top of the seventh, after the Killam Braves had recently scored 3 runs to take a 7-4 lead, the A's rallied again with a few walks and soft singles. After a bases loaded walk to make it a 7-5 deficit for Rosalind, Matt Enright, armed with his new favorite bat, crushed a bases clearing double over the left fielders head to give the A's a 9-7 lead.

To recap, Matt Enright was the story, going 3 for 5 with a single, double and triple! Yes, the quadricep of Matt Enright held up to leg out a stand up triple.  Matt will be signing autographs before the game on Thursday in Rosalind as the A's host game 2 of the series at 7pm.

The Spring Lake Lakers, sporting their brand new uniforms with white pants and black tops, travelled to Rosalind on a beautiful Sunday night to take on the Rosalind A's.  The game was a reschedule from the All Star game night, but proved to still have a lot on the line for both teams.  If Spring Lake won, they would capture the Battle River League pennant as the top team in the regular season.  The squad from Rosalind was trying to secure home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs versus the Killam Braves.

Ideally teams want to be going into playoffs on a high note; confident at the plate, pitching well, and playing tight defence.  Sounds great, doesn't it, however that wasn't the shape that Rosalind was putting themselves in in the season finale.

Rosalind sent youngster Matt Palmer to the mound in his third appearance of the season for the A's.  Errors took a beating on Palmer's pitching line, as possibly only 1 of his 6 runs was earned.  Matt Enright came into put a stop to the roll the Spring Lake hitters appeared to be on, finishing off the final 4 inningso off the game.

Rosalinds pop gun offence was at it again, never completely shut out, but never grabbing momentum and running with it.  Offensively, the A's were lead by Nic Ronsko and Ryan Yuha, both going 3 for 4 at the plate.

The A's begin the playoffs in the 4 versus 5 match up against the Killam Braves.  Rosalind is 2-0 versus the Braves this season.  Game one is scheduled for Tuesday night in Killam at 7pm, while the 2nd game is in Rosalind on Thursday.

With a make up game from a rainout earlier in the season, Amisk travelled to Rosalind to play the Athletics in a 2 games in one, in order to get all games completed before playoffs start on Tuesday.  It was the first game since all star Steve Enright had been put on the 15 day DL, so obviously the A's were missing some talent and offence.

The A's sent veteran Ryan Yuha to the hill to take on the Astros.  After having a few weeks off, Yuha was eager to get back in game action before playoffs.  Yuha pitched a complete game racking up 4 strikeouts with 5 hits, and 2 walks.  Defensively, the infield was on their toes, turning 3 double plays thanks to the ground balls that Yuha was inducing.

Offensively, however, the A's continued to struggle at the plate.  Even with the absence of Enright, Harbak and Burnstad, Rosalind had enough talent to put runs on the board, but the bats are starting to be squeezed a bit tighter as the slump continues.

The small offensively rally began as the Amisk pitcher took a no hitter into the top of the fifth; but A's veteran Nic Ronsko, fresh off what felt like a 3 week holiday, turned a routine single into an aggressive double.  This sparked the beleaguered Rosalind squad, as the Ronnie and the next two batters eventually scored to tie the game.

The Athletics have one more remaining rain out game to be played against Spring Lake.  At the time of writing, the game has be scheduled for Sunday night in Rosalind at 6pm.  The game has a lot on the line as Rosalind is batting for home field advantage in the first round, and Spring Lake has an opportunity to secure first place after the regular season's finale.

Rosalind A's - 6

Killam Braves - 2

Rosalind Athletics - 11

Lougheed Wildcats - 3