Reds looking for a W

Times Reporter     

 

The midget AAA Strathmore Reds will only be playing in tournaments this summer, but are finding the transition to playing outside more challenging than expected. On April 6, they lost to Medicine Hat’s American Legion baseball team. In the next game of their double header, the teams tied.

“It was our first time outside,” Reds coach Zane Anderson said. “We just weren’t as sharp. Pitchers weren’t in seasoned form. April is primarily just exhibition games, and we just work around the weather.”

The Reds also dropped to the Calgary Dinos on April 20, 4-1 and 6-3.

“From Medicine Hat to Calgary, it was a really big improvement. The team we faced (on April 20) is one of the top teams in Alberta. We were pretty happy. They’ve already played ten games outside,” Anderson said. “It’s good to see that we can compete with them, and hopefully we can get better each weekend to have a good summer.”

Ten of Anderson’s 14 players are returning from last season, where the team won one tournament in Medicine Hat, and finished within the top three in most others.

 “It was good, we were a young team last year. This year we should do a little better since we have a little more experience with all the returning players,” Anderson said.

Prior to the Reds next double-header games on April 27 at Kinsmen Park against Red Deer, Anderson will be stressing repetition to his squad.

“We’ll be outside,” he said. “We’ve been in the gym for two to three months, but now we can get some ground balls and fly balls. It’s a pretty big adjustment. We’ll be working on the fundamentals.”