The first-year Parksville Royals junior baseball program wrapped up its inaugural season in high style last weekend, claiming the championship of the Summer Slam Wood Bat Tournament in Tacoma, Wash.
The Junior Royals closed out an unbeaten run through the tourney with a thrilling 3-2 win in the championship final over City Gold. Jamie Ingersoll of Campbell River delivered the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the sixth inning and hurler Dayton Ring picked up the win on the mound in relief of starter Jacob Volkers.
The Junior Royals finished 13-29 in league play, but did win their final league game and closed out the 2017 campaign with six straight wins.
Coaches Chad Schultz and Andrew Evernden said there were few expectations for the trip beyond getting in their three round robin games and visiting Seattle for a Mariners’ major-league baseball game.
But the team breezed through its pool with a 3-0 record, topping the Northwest Tugs 4-0 behind the pitching of Volkers and the batting of designated hitter Cam Linn; blasting the Bothell Crush 13-1 behind a 10-strikeout effort from Brodie Comerford; and edging City Navy 5-4 with a four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh and final inning, capped by Connor Hall’s broken-bat, RBI single that provided the game-winning run.
That set up a Sunday semifinal showdown against the Bayview Bombers, in which Comerford picked up his second tourney win while driving in a pair of runs with a double in a 5-0 shutout victory.
That set up the gold-medal game Sunday night against City Gold. Ring’s RBI single and a sacrifice fly staked the Royals to a 2-0, first-inning lead, which lasted until City Gold scored a pair in the fourth to tie it. Volkers, the starter, settled back down and held the score at 2-2 before giving way to Ring for the final two innings and Ingersoll’s seventh-inning game-winner.
— NEWS Staff and
Junior Royals submission