The Quality Foods Parksville Royals came away with one tie and three losses in four games this weekend, wrapping up their pre-season.
Looking to fine tune before the regular season, the Royals earned the tie in the first of four games before losing three closely contested games.
With three practices scheduled this week before their season opener, head coach Dave Wallace has his eye on a few things to work on.
“Our defense needs a little bit of work,” Wallace said. “We had good defense in the first game on Friday but after that it wasn’t as good as it could have been.”
“We made some mental mistakes that could have been avoided, so we’re going to work on trying to eliminate those from happening this week in practice. We’ll be getting some work in with the bats as well, trying to get everything in order before our first two games this weekend against Victoria.”
Opening up their season on the road this upcoming weekend, the Royals travel to Victoria to take on the Victoria Eagles Sunday. It’ll be a double header, as the Royals will play their first two games of the season.
“It’ll be good because the Eagles will have played two on Saturday,” Wallace said. “So they might be a little tired, playing their third and fourth games of the weekend on Sunday. The only downside is the fact that we have to travel, which sometimes has a habit of working against you as well.”
Taking in to account the fact that the Royals haven’t even had a practice with a full roster yet, thanks to spring break being different times in different school districts, the Royals will get their first look at their full team this weekend when they take the field against the Eagles.
“We’ll finally have the whole team together this weekend,” Wallace said. “We’ve had a few players who’ve been away thanks to spring break so getting our whole team together is going to be a big bonus for us. We’ll be able to utilize everyone out there and see what we can do with a full roster.”
Owen Kelly and Adam McKillican will get the nod as the starting pitchers in both games this weekend.
Kelly is slated to start game one and McKillican will take the hill in game two. Wallace expects good things from his two starters this weekend and through the rest of the season as well.
“We’re expecting them to be solid all season,” Wallace said. “Owen was a solid pitcher for us last season and we’re expecting much of the same this season. Adam should also give us a lot of solid innings on the mound and we’re hoping that they can both get started on the right foot this weekend for us.”
The Royals will open up at home against the Abbotsford Cardinals on Saturday, April 18 (12:15 and 2:45). Then on Sunday, April 19, the Royals play host to the Victoria Mariners (12:00 and 2:30) all at Inouye-Wallace Field at Springwood Park.