The Capital City Cardinals entered the IBA World Series and made it to the semi-finals to play against the WR Red team. The Cardinals loaded the bases with one out in the 1st inning but Cole hit a hard ground ball up the middle that the red team turned into an inning ending double play. The Cardinals continued to hit and play strong defense and led the game 5-0 until the bottom of the 3rd inning when a series of errors and some good hits by the red team allowed them to come back and tie the game 5-5. The Cardinals almost went ahead again in the top of the 4th with a run to make it 6-5 when Tim singled and then Chris doubled. Tim using his speed to take him home was nailed on a very close play on a good throw from the WR Red second baseman. The red team took over the momentum then with three more runs in the bottom of the 4th to make it 6-8. Will Thistle made a fine play on a throw to tag a runner out but the runner was called safe by the umpire saying he tagged him with his elbow and not the glove. Michael also had a runner tagged out at third but tagged him with the glove with the ball in the other hand. The Cardinals were not able to claw their ways back into the game and lost with dignity 10-5 to the WR Red team who went on to win the World Series championship game against Level Cross.
We entered the tournament along with 11 other teams in New Market, NC for a tournament that was delayed throughout the weekend with rain and lightning. After losing to the WR Red team in pool play 14-1 and the Seagroves All-Stars dropped out not wanting to play on Sunday, we were placed in the gold bracket instead of the silver bracket. While this meant we would possibly get a chance to play against the #1 seed WR red again, we also knew that the competition would be the toughest as well. The Cardinals were the #5 seed and the first game was against #3 seed Team Elite. After the rain delay and the field was an inch to two inches deep in water, the Cardinals coaches and parents were working to drain the field with brooms and rakes to get the game started. In what was a long game in a very long tournament, the cardinals were able to advance to the semifinals having beaten Team Elite 6-3.
After losing in the semi-finals to the WR Red team after what seemed like a game that we were going to win, the chief umpire told our kids not to hold their heads down. He said, "You guys are a class act in every way. You have nothing to hang your heads about. You play the game the way it supposed to be played. If I were starting a baseball team I would want a group of boys just like you."
All the coaches were very proud of our kids for how well they played and carried themselves on the field. The tournament revealed enough of the quality of baseball and community that we have at West Raleigh to merit a comment like that from umpire Steve Heath, someone who had not known us before. After the final game, he also looked at the WR Team and called them a class act. Hold your heads up Cardinals.
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