It has been a rough season for the Yorkton Peewee 'AAA' Cardinals so far and on Sunday, June 8 it got a whole lot rougher.
That's because the visiting Swift Current Indians crushed the Cardinals 21-0 in Game One and 14-0 in Game Two.
But while the two games were definitely blowouts, Peewee Cardinals head coach Shawn Frankfurt felt his pitching actually performed admirably.
The problem was that they simply ran in to one of the most potent offences in Saskatchewan Peewee baseball. "In Game One we started Kaeden Koroluk on the mound and I think he did very well. He threw three strong innings for us," mentioned Frankfurt, adding, "but they hit absolutely everything he fired at them and they were hitting right to the fence."
Frankfurt also felt that Game Two starter Jarvis Zawatsky pitched well, but once again, the Indian offence just hit everything that was thrown to them.
In addition to the relatively strong starts by Koroluk and Zawatsky, the relief appearance by Kelsey Banga was something that Frankfurt feels can turn a season around, not for how he pitched, but for how he handled it mentally. "Kelsey pitched the last two innings for us (in Game Two) and at one point I went to have a little chat with him and I was very happy with what I heard from him," mentioned the Peewee head coach. "I went out to give him a pep talk and before I got to the mound he said 'coach, let me get this next batter' and he went after them.
"He battled and because of that we are starting to figure out who our pitchers are, who our leaders are and who we can rely on."
Just having fun
Fun. That's really the reason kids play baseball. They don't do it for the wins and losses, although winning is always nice (losing, not so much).
No, they take part in baseball to hang out with their friends, keep active and, most importantly, have fun.
So, less than an hour after a 21-0 loss in Game One to Swift Current, the Yorkton Peewee 'AAA' Cardinals found themselves caught in the midst of a torrential downpour. For adults, a thunderstorm following a blowout loss would be enough to drown the fun parade for a long while.
For these kids, however, it didn't even put a damper in it. "It's absolutely pouring rain and they (the kids) are smiling and ready to play (after the loss)," mentioned a laughing head coach in a phone interview on Monday. "They kept asking us if they could run around (in the rain) and get ready for the next game.
"It lifts you up as a coach too. We're sitting there thinking 'Geez, how can we get these boys going?' and we look around and realize that we don't have to. They're sitting there chatting and, during the rain delay, they have their helmets on backwards and they're dancing to music from the stereo."
Next action
The next action for the Yorkton Peewee 'AAA' Cardinals (0-5) will be this Saturday, June 14 when they host their rivals from Highway 10 the Melville Millionaires (5-5). First pitch is set for 1:00pm at the Jubilee Park Peewee Diamond.
