Miners look to ride momentum down the stretch

By Lethbridge Herald on July 11, 2024.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Miners are sitting comfortably in second place in the North A American Legion standings with a 16-6 record,  but know the importance of keeping the momentum up as they near the District tournament in a couple weeks’ time.

The Miners are riding a seven game win streak currently.

“We want to be able to keep this momentum going and hopefully that continues into …  the District tournament,” said Nicholas Ankermann, Miners head coach.

Ankermann wants to see the players continue to have an aggressive approach in not taking any games off or for granted in the next couple of weeks.

“(And ) going hard right out of the gate in the first inning and trying to go undefeated going into districts,” said Ankermann.

He has liked the team’s hitting as of late.

“A lot of good clutch, two-strike, two-out hits ,” said Ankermann.

Pitchers have had to grind it out on the mound.

“I think these are our ninth and 10th games (as of Wednesday’s doubleheader) in the last week and so our pitchers (have) been grinding,” said Ankermann.

“We’ve been having to watch for pitch counts and keep guys low so they can throw in three or four days, and they’re up for the challenge to bounce back and give us good quality innings.”

Ankermann considers the fight the players have as being the team’s strength.

“We’re a young team but still we have guys that are (going to) go to  war with each other,” said Ankermann.

“We pitch well, we can hit well, we can play defence well, we do everything right and when we put it all together we’re a very tough team to beat.”

Dylan Carpenter considers July wins to be massive.

“The standings are only a few games a part, so every win we have can help us out,” said Carpenter.

Carpenter thinks down the stretch it will be about making the fundamentals and swinging the bat.

The Miners are next in action with a couple of double headers in Montana this weekend when they play Lewiston on Saturday and Great Falls on Sunday.

They wrap up conference play in Medicine Hat on July 20.

The Miners are hosting a District playoff tournament from July 25-29.

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