U9 Cardinals heading for OBA’s after busy week locally

The Amherstburg Cardinals U9 rep team were busy over the past week with three games, two of which were at Malden Centre Park. They battled LaSalle last Tuesday night.

The Amherstburg Cardinals U9 rep baseball team are headed to the Ontario Baseball Association (OBA) championships after a busy week last week.

The Cardinals concluded their week with an 18-16 win over a talented Chatham team Monday night at Bill Wigle Park. The back-and-forth affair saw the Cardinals get off to a slow start as they allowed four runs in the top of the first inning but they battled hard the rest of the way as their bats got going and their defense picked up.

“These kids have tons of heart,” said Cardinals head coach Mike Mathieson. “They don’t give up on each other.”

Mathieson noted the strength of the Chatham team but the Amherstburg squad kept working hard and got the victory. He said they wanted to use Monday night’s game as a “springboard” into the OBA’s, which start Thursday in Dresden.

“It was a good game for us,” he said. “It’s exactly what we needed.”

The Cardinals concluded the 2025 regular season with an 11-11 record.

Amherstburg had a pair of games last week at Malden Centre Park, the most recent of which was last Wednesday (Aug. 13) against Essex. Essex won the game 15-12.

Essex last Wednesday in Malden before coming to Bill Wigle Park this past Monday night where they defeated Chatham.

“It wasn’t our best game,” said Matheson.

Matheson noted they battled hard in that game as well, but fell short. He hopes they righted the ship with Monday night’s win against Chatham.

The Cardinals’ other game of the week was last Tuesday night (Aug. 12) at Malden Centre Park against LaSalle. The visitors left with a 20-11 win over Amherstburg. After that game, Matheson said they played well early and came back late, but the middle innings were rough.

“The middle innings were the worst I’ve seen them play all year,” he said. “When you are wildly inconsistent, you don’t deserve to win.”

Despite that loss, Matheson added after last Tuesday night’s game “we’re developing into a very, very good team” though it has been a “roller coaster” at points this season. 

Matheson believes their hitting will be fine when they get to OBA’s but their success depends on their defense.

“If we play well, we can win this thing,” he said. “If we can make plays on defense, we’ll be hard to beat.”

U9 Cardinals heading for OBA’s after busy week locally

By Ron Giofu