After losing all four games this weekend, the Quality Foods Parksville Royals have officially been eliminated from post-season contention in the B.C. Premier Baseball League.
Heading into action this weekend, the Royals needed to win three of four games to stay alive in the hunt for a playoff spot. It wasn’t meant to be, as the Royals lost all four games this weekend but it wasn’t for a lack of effort.
Saturday the Royals lost by scores of 8-7 and 4-3 to the White Rock Tritons.
Sunday was much of the same for the Royals in action against the North Shore Twins. In two very close games, the Royals lost by scores of 2-1 and 4-2.
“Those are tough games to lose,” Royals head coach Dave Wallace said. “These guys battled hard all weekend and were right in it the whole way but we just couldn’t pull it off.”
“It was great to see the competitiveness come out even when we were down, being able to come back and come within two runs of winning three out of the four games, they never quit.”
With the four losses, the Royals won’t make the post-season in the BCPBL and will play out their final two games at home for a double-header against the Coquitlam Reds this weekend, game one scheduled for 12:15 p.m., followed by game two of the double-header at 2:45 p.m.
The Reds are sitting in 10th spot in the BCPBL and will have two games against the Nanaimo Pirates on Friday before heading to Inouye-Wallace Field on Saturday. This gives the Royals a chance to play spoiler should the Reds hold their position and remain one game back of the White Rock Tritons and Abbotsford Cardinals, who are currently tied for the last remaining playoff spot.
“We’ll just go and do what we’ve done all season,” Wallace said. “We can’t get too caught up on trying to play the role of spoiler, we just need to give our best effort like we did this past weekend and make the most of these last two games in our season.”
Once the BCPBL season is finished, the Royals will continue to practise for their midget tournament, which will take place in Yorkton, Saskatchewan from August 21 to 23. The Royals will become Team B.C. and will take part in the Western Canadian Midget AAA Championships.
“It should be fun,” Wallace said. “It’s going to be a great opportunity for us as a team. We’ll get to play some extra baseball ahead of our fall league and we’ll be up against some really good competition while we’re there.”
The Royals are slated to start their fall league two weeks after they return from the tournament in Yorkton, beginning in September. From there, they’ll evaluate players through the fall and into the New Year as they make preparations for the upcoming season.
“We’ll have some good numbers again,” Wallace said. “We usually do pretty well with bringing kids out for the winter ball.”
“We’re lucky to have the facility at Arbutus Meadows and that’s something that allows us to do what lots of teams don’t have the chance to do, continue to play baseball in the winter months.”