The Richardson Pee Wee Yorkton Cardinals and their Weyburn counterparts saw an awful lot of each other over the weekend.
The teams met four times between Saturday and Sunday.
Weyburn won three games, two of them came quite convincingly.
As of last week's newspaper press time, the Weyburn ball club sat on top of the B2 Digital Pee Wee AAA standings.
Going into last weekend, Weyburn held a record of 7-1 with eight games played. They were slated in first place going into the newspaper's last press time (last week) based on their winning percentage.
Their win percentage last week was slightly higher than the Regina Pacers, who occupied second spot. Weyburn's percentage sat at .875 per cent; the Pacers were at .769 per cent.
The past weekend gave Weyburn three more victories to add to their count.
As of last week, Yorkton was playing .500, having won four and lost four.
The weekend results with Weyburn drop them down to 5-7.
The win/loss record is not bothering anyone in the Cardinals clubhouse too much.
"We played some really solid baseball," mentions coach Kevin Shirtliffe. "Some solid defence (too)."
Shirtliffe was also quick to point out that it's the same Weyburn team that likely still leads the rest of the pack, but doesn't consider the out-of-town results.
"Overall it wasn't that bad," he said of the two games the Cardinals played in Weyburn this past Saturday.
It was more a case of 'bus legs' in the opening loss, describes Shirtliffe, of a game where Weyburn mercied Yorkton by 10 runs.
The second game was a lot closer and he likes the fact that his team is getting challenged.
"We can see why this team is number one," notes Shirtliffe, half-joking.
He suggested that the only thing about three losses in one weekend that has the coaching staff worried, is that all of the innings are going to be "taxing on our pitching staff".
"Yep," agreed manager Larry Kitchen, smiling.
"This is the top team in the league," Shirtliffe adds again. "Their team is playing good fundamental ball. We were never really down and out."
A lot of Weyburn's runs came later in the game, they both said.
Sunday's action brought the two teams to Yorkton for another doubleheader.
"This was a very good test," notes Shirtliffe, who said Weyburn is a "very good class team," referring to their sportsmanship.
By the sounds of it, the two teams may meet up again in the future.
Shirtliffe is apparently licking his chops getting ready for it, too.
"We're looking forward to playing them again."
He suggested that on Sunday, his team "hit the ball better."
Another member of the team made the observation that they "were able to jump on their pitcher a little faster" and that gave the birds some confidence and they maintained it.
They held on to beat Weyburn in the third match of the weekend, 8-6.
The final game didn't go quite so well as they suffered a double-digit defeat.
"It's great to have some good ball weather," closed Shirtliffe.
