The Yorkton Peewee 'AAA' Cardinals hoped for a better result this time against their rivals from Melville, having dropped their season opener 17-3 to the Mils back on March 17.
However a better result was just not meant to be for the young redbirds.
For the second straight regular season game in the Regina Peewee 'AAA' Baseball League, the Cardinals felt the sting of an early mercy-rule defeat, this time by a 13-3 score at Al Walls Field in Melville.
But while this second consecutive mercy-rule defeat to Melville may be a problem for some, for others, such as Peewee Cardinals head coach Shawn Frankfurt, it's nothing more than an early season experience gainer for his club. "Well just like last game we tried to get as many pitchers in as we could to gain experience," offered Frankfurt, following his teams' loss. "We started off pitching Hazard Friskie. His first inning was really good. He went three up, three down so he pitched a very good first inning. Then we brought Jarvis Zawatsky in to pitch a little bit. Kelsey Banga also pitched for us to get some experience on the mound. A lot of these pitchers have never seen 'AAA' quality batters so it's a learning experience for most of them on the team."
One pitcher that Frankfurt also put into the game, albeit at a later stage, was Gregor Farquharson. Farquharson, it should be noted, has prior experience facing 'AAA' calibre batters and is no doubt the strongest arm available to Frankfurt at any given moment. He also provides the Peewee Cardinals with a bit of a momentum boost whenever he takes the mound; a momentum boost that, while still not enough, was evident in the 13-3 defeat. "When we put Gregor in the team played very well," mentioned Frankfurt. "The team battled back in one inning to make it somewhat interesting."
Don't be fooled, however, into believing that Frankfurt is comfortable with the back-to-back mercy rule defeats. "It was a tough loss," offered the Peewee coach, continuing, "No one likes to lose. But I think our team is growing every game here so hopefully we'll start putting some wins together soon."
The next chance that the Peewee 'AAA' Cardinals (0-2) have to string together some wins will be this Sunday, June 1st, when they host the first place Regina Buffalos (5-2) for a two game set. First pitch for Game One is set for 1:00pm.
Clinic for Cards
The Yorkton Peewee 'AAA' Cardinals had a chance to learn from some of the best baseball minds in Saskatchewan on Saturday afternoon at Jubilee Park.
Both Ben Fines, a former member of the Regina Red Sox, Team Sask. and Team Canada, as well as owner of Regina's RBI Indoor Baseball and Softball Training Facility, and Cory Boutilier, a former pitcher for Team Canada ,made their way to Jubilee Park for a training session with the Peewee Cardinals.
The training session, which covered all areas of baseball from pitching and catching to hitting and fielding, spanned over three hours (including a rain delay) and taught the players, and Cardinals coaching staff, skills that should help them throughout not only the remainder of the 'AAA' season, but for the rest of their baseball careers.
