Aug 02, 2014 | Jackson Lale | 829 views
The Big Picture
The Optimist Mosquito Cardinals lost 15-8 to Chatham Thursday but overall it was a 1-1 week for the undermanned, banged up club.
Playing with just nine players for the second straight game, the boys hung in with the top team in the LDBA standings for almost the entire game before it got away from them late.
The game didn't start the way the Cards had hoped as the Diamonds came out of the gate swinging it. Three straight hard hit balls led to a three run inning to start the game. A Tyson Benwell RBI triple in the third got St. Thomas back within a pair after the third inning, trailing just 4-2.
Chatham would get back on the sticks in the 4th with the first six runners scoring to make it 10-2. It looked like this game was all but over. But no one told a scrappy group of kids in the first base dugout.
Tyler Lale, Silas Hulst and Jackson Lale all reached to start the inning. Zander Finch, Jamie Noviss and Colin Weir each drew bases loaded RBI walks before Alex Foshay stroked a two run single to centre. When the six-run inning was over it was back to a 10-8 ball game.
St. Thomas would manage just two hits the rest of the way in a 15-8 loss.
Overall the manager couldn't be prouder of his boys for grinding it out with a short handed banged up team. A split against the top two teams in the standings is a pretty great week when looking at the big picture.