It wasn’t just the thunder roaring in Westlock as the Red Lions rolled over the Edmonton Primeaus in a 13-2 blowout July 13 at Keller Field.
With lightning flashing all around, periodic downpours and a whole lot of grit, the teams took to the field despite the lousy weather.
“We had a pretty sketchy start,” said skipper Adam Sawatzky. “We actually started 10 minutes early just hoping to get through the game. After that it rained a bit, but it didn’t seem to do much to our bats.
The Lions are now 6-5 in the North Central Alberta Baseball League with four games remaining in the race for the last playoff spot.
The Red Lions came out of the gate strong, scoring five unanswered runs in the first inning. An error and a sacrifice hit in the second inning put the Lions up 7-0 before the Primeaus were able to sneak in a run.
The Lions didn’t miss a beat. Nathan Brown hit a double in the bottom of the third, bringing home another run before Austin Watamaniuk stole a pair of bases and Nathan Swap fired a bullet to the back of leftfield to bring two more Lions back to their den.
Going into the fourth inning with a 10-1 lead, the Lions maintained control of the diamond, holding the Primeaus to home plate with three straight outs. The Primeaus managed to put another run on the board but it was far too little in a 13-2 Red Lions victory.
“We played these guys not too long ago and beat them 5-1,” said Sawatzky.
“We beat them in our tournament as well. We’re battling for a playoff spot with them but we’ve had their number for a couple of years now. Nobody was going to beat us tonight.”
The victory was a strong rebound after a disappointing 2-0 away game loss the night before against the Edmonton Blackhawks.
“That was kind of a heartbreaker for us,” he said. “But we really bounced back well tonight.”
The Red Lions are fifth in the NCABL going into the all-star break. Their next match is July 19 in Stony Plain to face the first-place Mets.
“They’ve only got one loss so far, so it’ll be a tough one,” he said. “But we’re a pretty hungry group right now.”
