SPORTSHOUND: Play Ball!

Tales from the Doug-Out – May 11th, 2022

Last year due to the Covid 19 restrictions, the provincial baseball season didn’t start until July and ran through to the end of August. This year the season commenced in Edmonton with one of the coldest weekends of the ball the U18 AA Braves have ever played.
The first game Saturday was against Camrose. Keagan Locke pitched a game’s beauty, going four innings, allowing only three hits while striking out nine batters. The veteran chucker didn’t give up a run and had great control over all his pitches. Ethan Walgren, a lefty and new player to the team from Lac La Biche pitched very well, going the last two innings allowing one hit and getting 5 K’s. Foster Pickowicz and Ty Dechaine each picked up singles to boost the offense. Braves walked away with a 5-1 win. The win came at a cost with the team losing starting pitcher Brad Atwal to injury, making him unavailable for his start on Sunday. Hopefully, he should be back up and running the final weekend of May, the next time the Braves are scheduled to play.

Game 2 was Sunday morning against the Edmonton Padres. It was high of plus 7, but it felt like minus two or more with the north wind. Not the most incredible baseball weather,  but when you live in Alberta, all the teams have to deal with it. The boys needed a couple of extra hours of sleep after celebrating their win because after the first inning, they were down 8-2, kicking the ball around and making numerous errors. Seth Cobourne pitched very well but had no one helping in the field. He collected four strikeouts over his two innings of work. Carter Goreniuk came in from the bullpen in the 3rd inning and pitched three strong innings, allowing only four hits while striking out  3. Catcher Dallas Sparklingeyes went 1-1 batting and was strong behind the plate blocking wild pitches in the dirt and keeping the runners in check. The Braves lost this one by the ten-run mercy rule, 13-3 in five innings.

Seth Cobourne pitching

Ty Dechaine reaching for one on 1st

The final game of the weekend was back to back against Sherwood Park. The good news is the boys finally woke up. Getting the call to start on the mound, Kobe ‘ Cobra ‘Warawa pitched a fantastic game, going five innings, giving up three hits, 0 runs, and 6 SO. Zach Lapointe finished the final two innings with three strikeouts and closed out the game. Colton Lacoursiere played a great game at third base and went 1-3 at the plate. Dawson Plamondon also had a hit and cashed in a run going 1-2. Braves won this one 7-2.

Overall, winning two out of three was a great start to the season. The pitching was great, and only one bad inning. We can blame that one on the cold.. or not! The Braves will be hosting their next provincial round-robin in Bonnyville on May28&29th. Come on down to the ballpark and watch the games. The Braves play at noon Saturday and at 9:00&3:00 on Sunday.