The Rockies late comeback fell just short on Monday night in Sylvan Lake as they dropped Game 1 of the Semifinal Series 6-5 to the Red Deer Riggers. Their backs are now firmly against the wall as they come home to host a do or die Game 2 tonight at Webber Athletic Park.
It took a while for the bats to come alive for the Rockies in this game, and by the time they did it was just too little too late as the Riggers had already jumped out to a 4-0 lead on the back of three unearned runs in the 5th inning before the Rockies scored their first runs in the 6th inning. Rockies leadoff man Mike Goldade had a solid day at the plate going 2-4 with a homer and a triple with two RBI and two runs scored, but the heroic effort wasn’t enough to overcome relatively quiet days from the rest of the offense and some sloppy defense that handed several runs to the Riggers. Rockies ace Curtis Smith (5-2) pitched well in a complete game effort, but lacked his usual strikeout stuff and issued more free passes than usual with three walks across only six innings of work.
First pitch for Game 2 is 7:30pm tonight at Webber Athletic Park as the Rockies aim to force a decisive Game 3 back in Sylvan Lake tomorrow night!
