Junior Royals take 2nd in the Battle of the Rock  

The Save-On-Foods Parksville Junior Royals hosted the Battle of the Rock tournament at Springwood Park over the weekend and came away with a silver medal for their efforts.  Game 1 saw the Royals send Ethan Dean to the mound against the Nanaimo Midget AAA Mariners.  Dean had his good stuff, striking out 8 Nanaimo batters in 5 innings of work and allowing 3 runs.  The opposition came to play as well and held the Royals to 5 hits on the way to a 3-0 victory for Nanaimo.

With a loss in their rear view mirror, the boys in purple were keen for some redemption against the Victoria Midget AAA Sea Wolves.  Trevor Carter pitched six innings of shut-out ball on just 65 pitches.  Carter was a strike-throwing machine and the Wolves had no answer.  At the plate, the Royals bats came out loud in support of their pitcher, scoring 8 runs to mercy Victoria 8-0.  

The highlight play came in the second inning when Cameron Bell was on third with 2 outs and the Royals looking to build an early lead.  Bell, a speedster with great base-running instincts, took the measure of the pitcher’s move to the plate and decided he saw an opportunity.  On the second pitch to the batter, Bell made his move and came away with a straight steal of home to put the Royals up 3-0 at that time.

In Game 3 the Royals took on the undefeated Victoria Jr Eagles.  Austin Walper got the call on the hill and battled through 5 innings in a see saw game that saw the lead change 8 different times.  With the score tied at 8 in the bottom of the 7th, Parksville sent Ethan Dean in to pinch hit and Dean laced a single to left to put the winning run aboard.  Dean stole second and then took third on a passed ball.  With two outs, the Royals sent up yet another pinch-hitter.  Kevin Mulrooney worked the count full before lining a hit deep to short that the shortstop couldn’t make the play on.  Dean scored from 3rd and the Royals walked it off 9-8 to punch their ticket to the final.

The Royals earned a rematch against Nanaimo in the gold medal game.  The Royals bats got things going in the 3rd inning as Ethan Aston lined a single, promptly stole second, and then came around to score on a Cam Bell base hit.

The Royals were out of pitching, however, and would drop the final by a score of 9-1. 

Coach Josh Siemens was pleased with the effort that the players put forward. “We continued to work hard and persevere with a few of our pitchers unavailable due to injury.  I saw some promising play that resulted in two solid wins.  If we stay on this track, we’ll be in great shape when all of our pitchers are healthy again.”

The Junior Royals will host the Whalley Chiefs this Saturday at Springwood Park.  First pitch at Noon, concession open at 11:30.

Premier Royals losing streak stretches to 10  

The Save-On-Foods Parksville Royals took it on the chin again this past weekend, dropping all four leagues games.  The Royals, now 5-18, showed flashes of brilliance Saturday and Sunday but continued inconsistency at the plate and in the field were their downfall.   It doesn’t get any easier as Parksville heads out to face the league-leading Coquitlam Reds this Saturday.

Bantam Royals Performed Well at the Langley Invitational Tournament

The Bantam Royals took the week off from league play but were in action at the Langley Invitational Tournament.

The Royals would face off versus the Coquitlam Reds in game one at McLeod Park in Langley, BC. Royals would start off the tournament with hard thrower Liam McNamee. McNamee did not disappoint, going 4 scoreless innings before giving the ball to Rylan Baikie. Baikie would continue the pitcher domination throwing two scoreless innings. Deadlocked at 0-0 the Royals would break open the game in the 5th with Breydan Riecker and Owen Lagos getting on the bases with a hit by pitch and a walk. The two would then pull off a double steal, for Keitaro Adachi to step up and his a 2 RBI single to take a Royals 2-0 lead. Royals would call on closer Ethan Vaton to finish the job. Reds not going down without a fight, would load the bases in the bottom of the 7th, but the defense and pitching was too much for the Reds to handle as the Royals walked away with a 2-0 win in game 1.

Game 2 of the tournament saw Riecker take the mound versus the White Rock Tritons. The Royals would give up 2 in the first inning, but the offense would quickly respond with 3 of their own in the bottom of the first. Tyler Kolopenuk, Carter Hall and Ryan Deagle lead the offensive charge as Riecker would settle in and throw 4 complete innings before giving the ball to Owen Taylor and Hall in relief. Royals with a 4-3 lead in the 6th would give up some baserunners and the Tritons came up with a big hit to put them ahead. The Royals couldn’t muster a response in time as they dropped game 2 by a score of 6-4

Game 3 the Royals were in tough facing the rival Langley Blaze. The Royals would start the game with Breandan McLaughlin on the mound. McLaughlin would get through 3 innings of work with Landon Bowers and Gareth MacDonald coming in relief. The Blaze would be too much to handle as they came out swinging and the Royals couldn’t answer as the Royals drop game 3, 9-1

Looking to answer and finish the weekend on a high note, the Royals would end the weekend playing the UBC Thunderbirds Prep team. Royals would start with Thomas Plant. Plant would throw 3 strong innings in a shortened tournament start. After giving up a run in the 1st inning he would settle in and throw 2 scoreless innings. The offense would then start to click as the Royals would score 3 runs in the 3rd, followed by 3 in the 4th and 4 in the 5th . Baikie would go 2-3 with 2 runs scored, Vaton with 2 walks and a single with 2 runs scored, and Bowers leading the charge offensively going 2-4. Kolopenuk and Deagle would come in relief of Plant on the mound and make quick work of the Thunderbirds and winning in convincing fashion 10-3.

Head coach Bruce Biro would say “this was probably the best baseball we have played as of late. We are in a tough part of our schedule. We had played good games against tough teams before the tournament, and we are playing tough teams after the tournament. We are in a good spot within our team to come out ready to go this weekend ready to compete”.

The Royals sit 8-8 on the season and will play host to the Fraser Valley Cardinals (9-3) on Sunday May 26th at Inouye-Wallace Field. Game times 1:00 PM and 3:30 PM