News

Bawlf Outlaws - 4

Rosalind Athletics - 7

Armena Royals - 6

Rosalind Athletics - 4

Yet another battle versus the vaunted Heisler Cardinals went down to the wire, and in the end the game went down as a tie.  The long running campaign versus the neighbors (and a few cousins) to the south east has endured many ups and downs, so the latest seemed to be par for the course.

Matt ‘The Terminator’ Enright had his number drawn out of the hat to take the mound against a good hitting Cardinals lineup. Enright had his game face on, and his notorious command firing, inducing countless groundballs that the Athletics infield was able to gobble up. The cagey vet looked like Mark Buerhle, throwing his fastball to both sides of the plate, while floating a few change ups and loopy curveballs in the zone to keep the Heisler hitters off balance. The only blemish on Matt’s line was fastball that Devan Herder was able to get a hold of to the tune of a 2 run dinger. “We made one stupid mistake, and in hindsight cost us the win.”

It wasn’t for a lack of offence that the A’s didn’t put up more than 2 runs, more so, lack of timely offence as Rosalind hitters stranded runners at 2^nd and 3^rd in three separate innings. The A’s strung together 11 hits and 3 walks against Cardinals pitcher, Todd Steil, but were only able to cash 2 runs. Brayden Benson led the way with 3 hits and one of the RBI’s.

The A’s host their annual 8 team tournament this weekend in Rosalind, with teams from Cold Lake, Armena, Heisler, Spring Lake, Bawlf, Castor and Lougheed all vying for championship honors.

Also, Steve Enright, Brett Yuha and Sheldon Pederson were selected to represent Rosalind on the Battle River All Star team as they take on the Powerline Baseball League all-stars next Tuesday in Camrose at Harry Andreassen Field.

Click here to view the larger version of the draw, or goto the 'Downloads' section.

In a rare, two league games in a week part of the BRBL schedule, the Rosalind A's took short staffed roster to Lougheed to take on the Wildcats.  With expecting dad, Adam Enright on the paternaty list, and the guys working in Edmonton unable to make the trek out east, a collective "Whew! Atleast we've got 9!" when the 2nd half tonne pulled up to the diamond.

Youngster Brett Yuha got the start against the Wildcats, and was racking up strikeouts at a similar frequency to his strikeout rate while trying to wheel phone numbers at the bar on a weekend.  The young fireballer overmatched a lot of the Lougheed hitters with his fastball.  On opposite end of the age spectrum, lefty Mike Hilhorst closed out the game for the A's, polishing off the last 3 innings with a solid fastball and a flithy curveball that left a few of the Wildcat hitters waving at air.

 Offensively, the A's put forth a complete team effort, as each one of the batters had 6 plate appearances in the lopsided victory.  All the Rosalind players had hit, many multi hit performances, and all players scored a run.  Steve Enright, Brett Yuha and Ryan Yuha all had 3 hits a piece.

Coming off a disappointing loss last week against Coronation, the A’s were eager to get back on track and in the win column versus the Lougheed Wildcats in the 2^nd home game of the season.  On a side note, the baseball diamonds in Rosalind are in great shape in large part because of the time and effort that Dallas Barbers father has been putting in.  The A’s really appreciate it! Thank you!

Sophomore Brayden Benson took to the mound against the Castor Raiders, in his 3^rd appearance of the season.  Raiders went to the plate eager to hit in the first inning, where Castor strung together 3 hits and 2 runs.  Defensively, Benson was a one man infield machine; making 8 or 9 put outs on his own.  Benson showed the poise to check back runners on hard hit balls up the middle that is rare amongst pitchers in the situation.  Nic Ronsko made a valiant effort on a hard driven ball down the line that was slicing away from him, otherwise the Raiders would have only scored 1 run in the first.

Offensively, the Rosalind squad put together a solid team effort, putting runs on the board throughout the lineup.  Newcomer Cory Lohr looks to be a solid addition to the team, as he got better as the game went on, with a single and double in the latter innings.  Brett Yuha also had a stand out game at the plate, seeing the ball well while hitting two singles and a double, and an aggressively graceful, chest first slide during a stolen base attempt.

The A’s travel to Lougheed on Thursday night to take on the Wildcats.

For some reason, whenever the A's travel to play Coronation, as soon as they cross into the river valley and the beautiful ball park that is Burma Bridge, a few crucial errors seem to be unavoidable, and costly.  Last year, it was Nic Ronsko's MVP like season that hit a bump in the road while in Burma Park; this year, Steve Enright supplied the aggressive base running miscue that in hindsight, loomed large.

Dan Enright took to the bump for the A’s, coming off a stretch of working nights, the young right hander was eager to do battle versus the Cardinals.   If his first inning was any indication, the extra rest between starts did him well, as he struck out the side overmatching the Coronation hitters with his live fastball. Brett Yuha continued to build off his strong performance in the Heisler tournament, with 2 solid innings of work with his tight and devastating curveball that left Coronation jelly legged countless times. The only blemish on his line was 3 unfortunate, and unearned, runs. Brayden Benson finished off the bottom of the 6^th with a solid pick off on second base, of his only base runner.

Offensively, let’s say that an opportunity was missed in the first inning, with the bases loaded and two out, when Steve Enright tried to steal home while the Cardinals battery was caught napping. The A’s have vocalized an effort to be more aggressive on the base paths, so this decision wasn’t truly out of the blue. However, adding to the head scratcher of aggression, was the fact that the batter in the box hit a double in the gap to lead off the next inning. Possibly, 3 RBI’s squandered, but who’s counting anyway…except maybe the statistician or webmaster.

After, the defensive lapse in the bottom of the 5^th, the Cardinals were able to take a 5-3 lead and put the pressure on the A’s offense before a possible thunderstorm rolled into the valley. Adam Enright was able to drive in a run with a sac fly in the 6^th, but that’s the only runs that Rosalind was able to muster. Sheldon Pederson displayed his warning track power, yet again, in the top of the 7th but was unable to be cashed in to tie the game. Pederson continued a rare hot streak, with 2 doubles and a single. Matt Enright turned in the performance of the night, with a Gladiator effort after being drilled in the knee in his 2^nd at bat. The usually spry Enright, was limited to first base duty and an apprehensive jog down the first base line in his final at bat.

In league play, Rosalind hosts Castor on Tuesday and travels to Lougheed on Thursday next week in a busy and expanded Battle River League schedule.

Rosalind Athletics - 5

Heisler Cardinals - 4

Story and stats to follow...

What looked like a disaterous start to the game for the A's, turned out to be a huge come from behind win versus the Cardinals in the Heisler tournament.