There’s no place like home for the Save-On-Foods Parksville Royals. After losing twice in Coquitlam on Saturday, the Royals bounced back with two wins at home on Sunday against the North Shore Twins.
In the first game against Coquitlam, Josh Laukkanen went five innings throwing a respectable 69 pitches, 46 for strikes. Laukkanen was cruising but lost his command in the third inning as the Reds struck for five runs. The Royals didn’t have an answer at the plate. Kiran Carcary continued his outstanding season at the plate with a two-out triple that scored Ben Munger. The Reds took the first game 5-1.
Brayden Baker took the hill in game two but couldn’t solve the Coquitlam hitters. The senior chucker from Courtenay allowed five earned runs on nine hits, striking out four. Jaxon Ackerman came on in relief going three innings while allowing just one hit and no runs to keep the Royals in the contest. Laukkanen had the big hit for Parksville with a leadoff triple in the first inning. Carcary and Jacob Volkers produced the RBIs but in the end the Reds came out on top, 5-3.
The skies were cloudy but the outlook was sunny on Sunday as the Royals returned to Springwood Park for two games against the Twins.
Staff ace Brady Radcliffe got the start and pitched six strong innings, striking out six batters and allowing four earned runs. Radcliffe is tearing it up and sits atop the PBL leader board with seven wins to his credit and has a total of 46 strikeouts.
At the plate, the Royals broke it open with nine runs in the fifth, chasing the Twins’ starter. Carcary, of Parksville, knocked in two runs and increased his team-leading RBI total to 20. Jake Nikirk, Connor Hall, Brodie Comerford and Thomas Green spread out the rest of the offense for the Royals in the 10-5 win.
Ryan Humphreys got the start in the finale and pitched five effective innings, allowing three earned runs. With the score tied at three in the bottom of the fifth inning, Spencer Walton’s sacrifice fly scored Nikirk from third and the Royals went ahead 4-3. Brodie Comerford came on to pitch two innings of one-hit ball to earn the save and seal the win. Radcliffe went 2-for-3 at the dish and Thomas Green knocked in two runs in the Royals victory.
This weekend the Royals are away competing in the Langley Blaze Invitational, a 16-team tournament with competitors from the PBL, Alberta and Ontario.
Bantam Royals trip on the road
The Save-On-Foods Bantam Royals struggled on the road last weekend and failed to earn a point in league play.
The Royals took on UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday. In the first game, a combination of poor pitching and errors did not help the Royals’ cause as they went down 12-2.
In the second game, the Royals put up a fight in the hope of redeeming themselves after losing the first game badly. But their efforts just fell short as they ended up losing a close one, 3-2. Will Fox went 3-for-3 with a single and an RBI.
The next day, the Royals took on the North Shore Twins.
In the first game, the Royals batters weren’t able to solve the Twins’ pitching and, combined with a string of errors, they lost 5-1.
Later that day, the Royals came out strong but were edged 8-7. Cameron Bell went 2-for-3 with two singles and an RBI.
NEWS Staff/Royals report