The Yorkton R. Miller鈥檚 鈥楢A鈥� Bantam Cardinals had just three days to prepare for the 23rd annual Melville Baseball Tournament, not coming together as a team until Tuesday, July 7.
That lack of cohesiveness showed at times with the Cards going 0-4 in the tournament.
鈥淚t鈥檚 our first games together as a squad seeing as we just picked the team,鈥� head coach Jason Sliva told the paper. 鈥淲e saw some good things from the team and some things we need to work on but with a few practices the team should come together.鈥�
The Cardinals opened the tournament up with a game against one of the top teams in the province, falling to the Regina Pacers by a score of 14-9.
The Cards followed that up with back-to-back round-robin losses, losing to the Regina Jr. All-Stars by a score of 10-9 before dropping an 8-4 decision to Weyburn to finish the round-robin at 0-3 in Pool 鈥楤鈥�.
That meant the Cardinals had to take on the host Melville Millionaires in the third A/fourth B matchup, as Melville posted a 1-2 record losing to the Saskatoon Braves and Pembina Hills while dusting Carrot River 16-7 to finish in third place in Pool 鈥楢鈥�.
The Mils took advantage of a depleted Yorkton bullpen, jumping out to an 8-1 lead only to have the plucky Cards chip away and make it 8-5.
However a trio of Melville runs late in the game sealed the Cardinal coffin as Yorkton lost 11-6.
The loss meant that the Cardinals, who were missing two key players and fielding just nine all weekend long, were eliminated from the tournament without winning a game despite playing 鈥楢AA鈥� teams hard all weekend long. 鈥淭hose guys we were missing are definitely a solid part of the offence, defence and pitching corps,鈥� offered Sliva, continuingn 鈥淏ut what we had here was a bunch of guys that rose to the task. There was some really hot weather and playing with only nine guys meant no one was able to sit down. They rose to the task.
鈥淲e played some of the top teams in the province and these guys competed with them. That says a lot because we haven鈥檛 been together as a team for more than three days.鈥�
Sliva believes that the performance in Melville proves that the R. Miller鈥檚 Cardinals have what it takes to do well at 鈥楢A鈥� Provincials, although he admits they do have some stuff to work on in practice. 鈥淲e鈥檙e excited but we鈥檝e got some work ahead of us. We have to iron out some of the kinks within the team but like I said, we鈥檝e got a good group of kids that work hard. It鈥檚 going to be fun and I can鈥檛 wait to see them out there competing against some 鈥楢A鈥� teams.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 go in to a tournament without expecting to win it, so I鈥檇 like to go to St. Albert, Alberta, for Westerns but first we鈥檝e got some good teams to go through. I expect them to play hard and play some meaningful baseball on Sunday that鈥檚 for sure.鈥�
The Yorkton R. Miller鈥檚 鈥楢A鈥� Cardinals will be hosting the 鈥楢A鈥� Bantam Provincials from July 24-26.
