Mosquito Reds prepare for provincials

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

After recently scoring their first league win in Carseland, the Strathmore Reds Mosquito 2 baseball team received a positive boost going into provincials in Fort Saskatchewan this weekend.
The young team beat Fort Saskatchewan 21-14 on July 11 – momentum head coach Alana Aldridge hopes the team will ride into provincials.
“In mosquito, it’s all about pitching,” said head coach Alan Aldridge. “Our pitchers are throwing strikes. I don’t care if the other team hit against us, we just can’t walk a whole lot of people. Our fielding is the strength of our team – if we can get them to hit the ball we have a good chance of getting outs.”
This is the first year of competitive baseball for many players, but considering that the players have encountered many of the same teams all year round, Aldridge does not foresee his team having any problems at provincials.
Their Achilles heel, all season long, was giving up runs at critical times, an issue that needs to be corrected before the tournament begins.
“Our biggest problem, is we have usually that one big inning that the other team gets and it really hurts us,” said Aldridge.
“In the provincial round, there’s no limit innings that the other team can score. We just need to stay consistent. Every team is going to get runs, we just don’t need that eight-run inning against us and we’ll be fine.”
Meanwhile, the Red Mosquito 1 team has seen a reverse trend this season, going from a strong offense and defense and weak pitching, to strong pitching and a weak offence and defense, officials said.
“To be honest it’s been a struggle,” said head coach Jeffery Stender. “Our pitching has been good enough to allow us to win games but our defense has been our weakness. I think … we have the potential, if we actually put a full six-inning game together to beat them.”
Stender added his team will have to focus on their hitting in order to find success on the provincial stage.
The Reds Mosquito 1 will head to Wetaskiwin on July 31 to Aug. 2, while the Reds Mosquito 2 team will be heading to provincials at Fort Saskatchewan on July 24-26.
“We’re all pretty equal now, Baseball Alberta has been fair with all the tiering,” said Aldridge. “I think we have a good chance at winning provincials.”