After a busy week, the Quality Foods Parksville Royals are back in action again this week with three Island games on their schedule.
The Royals were in action last night (score not available at press time) at home against the Nanaimo Pirates, who they lost to by a score of 15-2 the last time the two teams squared off. This weekend the Royals are in Victoria for a double-header against the Victoria Mariners, who sit three games ahead of the Royals in the B.C. Premier Baseball League standings.
“It’ll be a good test this weekend,” head coach Dave Wallace said. “We played some good games last weekend, we just couldn’t find a way to win in the games that we lost. We did win the one game but we should have won three out of the four games we played. We just didn’t have the timely hitting that we needed in order to get the runs across the plate, so hopefully we’ll see a little bit more of that this weekend.”
Through the month of June, the Royals have been on the road quite a bit and will remain away from Inouye-Wallace Field until the first weekend in July. It’s a challenge that all teams have to face but Wallace knows the players get better at it with time.
“It’s a challenge for sure,” Wallace said. “But we’re not the only team that has to deal with that challenge. All of the Island teams travel to the mainland and same with the mainland teams coming here. Even Okanagan and their travel schedule, they have to come all the way down from the Interior for games too, so we all go through it. It’s just a matter of how you handle it as a team.”
“The older players on our team, they’ve been through it and they know what it takes, especially on a weekend when you’re playing up to four games. The younger guys aren’t as used to it but as the season rolls on, they start getting more and more used to it all.”
Getting used to the travel is one thing, but it’s being able to get out on the field and perform that’s the ultimate end goal. For the Royals, it’s been a season full of close games that could have turned into wins.”
“Wallace sees the team getting better and the fact that they remain upbeat, despite the close losses, is a positive sign.
“It’s very positive to see,” Wallace said. “When you lose, it’s tough no matter how bad it is, losing is losing and it’s never fun. But these kids come to practice every week, looking to get better and wanting to get back out there in a game and try again. They’ve got the right attitude and they’re coming along. It all just comes down to the work, repetition until it becomes automatic and that’s what it takes to get better as a team.”