By Lethbridge Herald on June 7, 2024.
By Justin Seward
Lethbridge Herald
The Lethbridge Elks American Legion baseball team kick off conference play today with the hopes of upping their consistency.
âItâs been (a) little bit inconsistent early but thatâs to be expected with ⌠a younger club,â said Elks head coach Scott Oikawa, on the teamâs play heading into conference play.
âI think weâve shown some signs of some quality play and hopefully we can take that into conference.â
The Elks will need balanced efforts game in and game out if they want to see success.
âOne of the keys with the parity to our league is to just make sure you come out with a consistent effort,â said Oikawa.
âTry to avoid getting swept, try to make sure that you come out with a good game and get better the next (game).â
Oikawa said every team is solid and theyâre solid throughout their line-up.
âI mean if you can make sure youâre prepared to play every day during the conference runs and come out with quality efforts, it generally works out,â said Oikawa.
Oikawa said there is a certain magnitude to the games and to the mistakes.
âBut thatâs not something that you can worry about,â said Oikawa.
âYou just have to go out and give it your best effort and just make sure youâre prepared and ready to play and good things happen (and)bad things happen. But how you react to that is often the deciding factor in whether you come out with a âWâ or not.â
The Elks host the Billings Scarlets today at 5 p.m. at Lloyd Nolan and for a Sunday twin bill starting at 11 a.m. at Spitz Stadium.
âThey are I think one of the favourites in the league this year just based on some of their returners and how theyâve done so far this season,â said Oikawa.
âAt the same time, I think weâve got a quality club, and I guess weâll find out where we stand this weekend.â
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