The Alexanders Mens Wear Yorkton Junior Cardinals got off to a shaky start when action at the 2010 National Championships of men's hardball got going late last week in Trois-Rivieres, QB.
In their opening game, played Aug. 19, Yorkton, going under the name Saskatchewan, went up against Manitoba. Manitoba's pitching kept Yorkton's hitting in check as they shut them out 7-0.
Other winners on the opening day included the host Trois-Rivieres pounding Newfoundland/Labrador 12-1, Ontario got by New Brunswick 5-2 and Quebec beat Nova Scotia 8-0.
Quebec handed Yorkton their second straight loss to start the second day of the games, hitting them hard for 13 unanswered runs en route to a 13-0 victory. Manitoba won for the second game in a row, 5-2 over Nova Scotia. Newfoundland/Labrador got on the winning track, 6-5 over New Brunswick. In the first game of that afternoon, and their third match of the tournament, Yorkton lost a back-breaker, 4-3 to Nova Scotia in extra innings.
In their fourth game of the tournament, Yorkton got on to the winning track, taking down Newfoundland/Labrador by shutout, 4-0. Saskatchewan later fell to New Brunswick 9-7.Yorkton's squad is expected to return home today.