Bantam Reds shine in final grouping of regular season

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

The Strathmore bantam Reds 1 showed they can hang with the big dogs of Baseball Alberta.
In the first weekend of the final tiering for provincial standings in the top tier, the Reds went 2-1.
The Reds started the weekend by knocking off the team that eliminated them during last year’s provincials, the Provost Pilots, by a 12-9 score July 7 in Camrose.
Despite giving up five runs in the top of the first, the Reds scored in five of the six innings to overcome the deficit.
Ray Warrack benefited from Jon Rilling reaching base three times. Warrack led the Reds with three RBIs, while Rilling scored three runs, added an RBI while going 2-for-3 at the dish.
Jacob Galandy and Kobe Gosling also picked up a pair of hits and scored a pair of runs. Galandy also earned one RBI, while Gosling drove in another pair.
Every hitter in the Reds lineup recorded a hit, as they out-swatted the Pilots 12-9.
Connor Cockx led the charge on the mound, as he chucked three innings and struck out four batters, as the Reds grounded the Pilots for the second time this season.
The Reds backed up the opener by minimizing the Leduc Giants 7-1 July 8.
Galandy drove in the eventual winning run in the top of the first when his single cashed in Rilling and Adam Kirkpatrick.
From there, the Reds put it in cruise control. Galandy and Warrack recorded two hits and one RBI each. Rilling and Gosling finished with the other RBIs.
As good as the Reds looked against early competition in tier 1, they ran into the class of the division when they closed out the weekend.
The Camrose Cougars have carried a strong bantam program for years now and they appear to have another powerhouse this year.
The Cougars claimed their spot atop the tier with a decisive 14-3 decision over the Reds July 8.
Cockx and Warrack teamed up on the bump but couldn’t keep the Cougars down over five innings.
Offensively, Kirkpatrick and Rilling each picked up two hits in three at bats.
The Reds and Cougars could be on a collision course for a rematch of the 2016 provincial final, one in which the Reds won en route to their silver medal at westerns.
The Reds are off this weekend and return to play in two weeks.
The midget Reds were also in action last weekend in their first grouping of games in tier 1.
The Reds were supposed to be in tier 2, but a last minute adjustment by Baseball Alberta boosted them back into tier 1.
Playing in tier 1 meant that the Reds faced a tougher schedule. The Reds went 0-3.