The Quality Foods Parksville Royals wrapped up their season this past weekend with a win and a loss against the Coquitlam Reds, complete with fireworks on the field.
In game one of the double-header, the Royals came away with a 7-5 victory over the Reds, capped by a home run off the bat of third baseman Liam Ballance.
While the Royals lost game two in a thriller, final score 13-12, it was Ballance once again providing the punch for the Royals at the plate, going 3-5 with three home runs and seven RBI’s.
“Never seen anything like it,” head coach Dave Wallace said. “You have a guy go three for five and drive in seven runs and you still lose the game.”
“If you were to tell me that was going to happen and we’d still lose, I would have never believed it. It was just one of those games, it was amazing to watch it all happen and it was an entertaining way to finish off the season, that’s for sure.”
Game two of the double-header saw the Royals explode for eight runs in the third inning, giving them an 11-4 lead.
Ballance had two home runs in the third inning, driving in four runs but it wasn’t enough as the Reds rallied to beat the Royals 13-12.
After all the dust cleared, Ballance had gone deep four times in two games, driving in eight runs in the process.
It was a game for the ages, something that even big league players dream of doing in a game’s work and Ballance still couldn’t believe it after it was all said and done.
“It’s pretty surreal,” Ballance said. “It was like everything I hit was just going to find a way over the fence and that doesn’t happen for anyone, let alone myself.”
“It’s a crazy way to cap off the season though and it was lots of fun out there, for sure.”
Ballance only had two home runs to his credit on the season before this final weekend. With the four home runs against the Reds, Ballance catapulted himself to the top of the BCPBL leader board with six on the season, one ahead of Tyler Duncan of the Victoria Eagles.
“It’s one of those moments,” Wallace said. “You don’t see something like that very often but when you do, it’s something that you never forget.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it at this level but it’s sure a lot of fun to watch. You just have to shake your head and laugh about it, it’s really quite something.”
Pitcher Colton Tuka got the win for the Royals in game one, going four innings while giving up six hits and three earned runs.
Hayden Scheck came on in relief in the sixth inning and gave up three hits over the remaining innings, allowing no runs to shut the door on the Reds and their postseason hopes.
Ballance, Jacob Ingersoll and Ethan Fox provided the offense for the Royals in game one, with Ingersoll and Fox collecting two hits a piece, while Ingersoll drove in three runs and both Fox and Ballance had two RBI’s.
