The North Island Royals capped off their season with a third place finish at the provincial championships this past weekend.
The Royals were in tough against Burnaby in the semi-finals, falling behind early 4-1. They would come back to tie the game 4-4 and even had a chance to go ahead in the bottom of the eighth inning with the bases loaded, but failed to put a run on the board. Burnaby would go on to score a run in the top of the ninth and held on to beat the Royals 5-4.
Heading into the championship tournament as the sixth seed, the Royals opened against fourth seed North Delta. The Royals had a 4-1 lead after six innings of play but North Delta staged a late comeback, beating the Royals 5-4.
Game two saw the Royals take a page out of their earlier loss to North Delta after coming back from 9-3 against second seed Abbotsford, winning the game 12-10.
The Royals would earn another comeback victory in their third game against Tri-Cities, walking off with a win in the bottom of the seventh inning. They wrapped up the round-robin play with a 13-3 mercy victory over tenth seeded Cowichan to earn top spot in their pool.
“It was a great tournament,” President of Oceanside Baseball Mike Parlow said. “It was a tremendous effort by the team. That’s the second time in three years the North Island Royals have finished third at provincials and it’s a testament to the great job done by head coach Ryan Chenard and his coaches. Oceanside is very fortunate to be a part of such a thriving and competitive league for our local players.”