The forecast is for baseball with a slight chance of homers.
Parksville’s Quality Foods Royals are home and ready to dig in for their B.C. Premier Baseball League (BCPBL) regular season home opener on Saturday after a strong showing the Best of the West tournament in Kamloops.
The Royals wrapped up pre-season play as they do every year, in Kamloops last Thursday through Sunday and in the mix against some of the top club teams in Western Canada. The Royals played four games and went 2-2.
Always a good measuring stick or the start of the season, the tournament, said Royals’ skipper Dave Wallace, “is always a challenge. We played against some tough teams; we did some very good things, and saw some stuff we need to work on.”
The Royals opened the tourney March 31 with an 8-0 loss to the eventual tournament winners Langley Blaze, who finished fourth in the BCPBL last year
“They’re a very strong team — they’ll be the strongest team in the (BCPBL) this year,” said Wallace.
In game two on Friday the Royals rebound in game to on Friday with a well-earned 2-1 win over Vauxhall Academy out of Alberta. Royals’ ace Clayton Isherwood got the win on the hill.
“It was a good game — we played a lot better,” said coach Wallace.
Back at it Saturday against the Calgary Redbirds, Deep Bay standout Kevin Brio drove in Bryan Pawlina for the winning run in the bottom of the seventh for a 5-4 Royals’ win.
The Q -crew closed out the tourney Sunday with a 4-2 loss to the Victoria Mariners.
“It was a real good start for us, we did a lot of things well. We got some playing time for everybody. It was a great way to end the exhibition season and I was encouraged by what I saw,” said Wallace, adding that as one of the smallest organizations in the league, “we’re going to have our work cut out for us, but I like our work ethic, I like the attitudes, and I like the enthusiasm of these kids.”
GAME ON
The senior Royals open the BCPBL 48-game regular season at home up at Springwood Park Saturday against the defending playoff champion Victoria Mariners.
Opening pitch goes 12:15 p.m., and game two to follow (around 2:45 p.m.). As always there is a concession on site and 50/50 draws.
Whisky Creek righty Mitchell Powelson and Junior National team southpaw Clayton Isherwood will get the starts for Parksville.
The Junior Royals in the meantime wrap up their pre-season on Saturday in Nanaimo against the Pirates and Victoria Eagles.
The young Royals’ home opener is April 16 at 12:15 p.m.
