The BC Premier Baseball League released the names of this year’s award winners this week, and Parksville’s Quality Foods Royals capped off their best season in club history with a duffle bag full of accolades.
Deep Bay senior shortstop Kevin Biro picked up a team record three individual awards including League Most Valuable Players and a Gold Glove for his out-fielding to go along with three statistical batting titles; and the Royals were named the BC Premier Baseball League’s Organization of the Year, and that’s just for starters.
Junior National team southpaw and Royals’ ace, Clayton Isherwood, who locked up the award for the lowest Earned Run Average in the league this year at 0.79, was named the BCPBL’s Rookie Of The Year last year, “and that’s the only other time we’ve a had a player win an individual award,” Royals’ skipper Dave Wallace confirmed.
Kevin, 17, the youngest of three Biro brothers to come up through the Royals’ program, will be attending the University of B.C. in the fall.
Kevin went out with a bang and helped raise the bar for those Royals. One of his most outstanding games was against the Nanaimo Pirates back on July 2 when he had two home runs for six runs batted-in.
This year’s Royals squad set a high water mark for the club finishing 3rd in the regular season standings at 28-20 and hosting their first ever playoff series.
“Outstanding ... everything Kevin did he did well this year,” said his coach, adding “he’s been recognized for his work. The awards are great, but it’s his leadership, his enthusiasm for the game and his team approach to everything that’s even better.”
The All-Conference awards are voted on by the coaches. This is the fifth time the Parksville Royals have won the Organization of the Year Award since its inception in 2002. The other years were 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2008. No other team has won the award more than once.
“This award is a credit to all the numerous volunteers within the Royals organization and their dedication to baseball within the league and the province,” said Wallace, adding, “we have always been fortunate to have extremely supportive parents who contribute invaluable amounts of time to make our team one that is well respected throughout the province.”
Clyde Inouye (Royals co-founder and GM from 1995-2009) and current GM Scott Rodway, said Wallace, “deserve a lot of recognition for the hard work, time, and commitment to baseball not just in our community but on behalf of the PBL as well.”
DIAMOND BITS
The Langley Blaze — who defeated the Royals in this year’s playoffs — beat the Coquitlam Reds to clinch the BCPBL Championships.