The Westlock Red Lions will be making an appearance at the North Central Alberta Baseball League’s 50th anniversary celebrations at this year’s Westlock and District Agricultural Fair Aug. 19 and 20.
The Lions will be back at the Keller Field diamonds regardless of Monday’s pre-playoff game outcome against the St. Albert Cardinals.
The Lions finished their regular season with an 8-8 record, scoring a total of 81 runs for and holding their opponents to 75 runs against.
They played the Cardinals on Aug. 15 for the right to battle the Stony Plain Mets on home turf this Saturday.
Results of Monday’s game were posted to the Westlock News Facebook and Twitter pages.
Skipper Adam Sawatzky, who will be hanging up his gloves at the end of this season to accept a job offer in Edson, said he was looking forward to seeing old friends at the gala.
Gentlemen’s camaraderie aside, he said the Red Lions were planning to leave everything on the field during the Aug. 14 battle with the Cardinals to determine who will play the Aug. 19 semi-final.
“I’m not going to guarantee a victory but I don’t think we’re going to squander our chances on making the playoffs,” said Sawatzky.
“We’re going to come out with our very best. We had probably our best attended practice of all year on Wednesday and we had another practice Sunday night.”
He added that the Red Lions were watching the last regular season game, an Aug. 8 matchup between the Cardinals and the Edmonton Primeaus, with bated breath.
When the Primeaus won, the Red Lions counted their blessings at getting another shot at the grand prize.
“Some of us went to the game and the rest of us were following along Twitter,” said Sawatzky.
“We feel very fortunate to have another chance.”
Finishing in a three-way tie didn’t do the Red Lions justice — the Lions posted two of the NCABL’s top 20 batters of the season. Nathan Swap and Austin Watamaniuk had batting averages of 0.426 and 0.343 respectively.
“I was a bit surprised at some parts of the season,” Sawatzky said.
“Our defence and our pitching was strong. We were the third lowest-scoring team in the league, which is rare for us. Usually we’re near the top there.”
The Westlock Red Lions are the only team in the NCABL to have played in all 50 seasons. They have not missed the post-season since 2010.
