With the snow coming down outside, the Parksville Royals were enjoying their time in the Arbutus Meadows facility in Nanoose Bay.
The Royals have had a good turnout for their indoor winter ball sessions at Arbutus Meadows. They hope to see those numbers hold steady for training camp next week in the facility.
“We’re going to have both the junior and senior Royals’ teams coming out to practice next weekend for training camp, so it’s going to be nice,” Royals skipper Dave Wallace said. “If the weather turns in time for us to be able to head outside, of course we’d do that but we’ve got a great thing going here so might as well take advantage of it while we have it.”
Last season saw the Royals struggle to get their offense rolling and they finished last in the B.C. Premier Baseball League.
“There’s lots of enthusiasm and guys want to be here and they want to improve,” assistant coach Bruce Biro said. “We’ve got some good numbers with both seniors and the younger guys and they are all working well together.”
“Our strength last year was our pitching and defense,” Biro said. We didn’t have too many problems in that aspect of the game but the offense was where we lacked. So it’s been good to get in here and be able to work on their hitting and fine tune some things for them ahead of this season.”
The mixture of Grade 10’s, 11’s and 12’s has been somewhat of a surprise this season. Their numbers for winter ball are the highest to date and will carry over to a good number of players trying out for both the junior and senior Royals.
“Yeah, it’s been a nice surprise. The Grade 10’s and 11’s have shown they’re very skilled and talented and shouldn’t have a problem fitting in with our seniors,” Wallace said.
The exhibition season starts against the Nanaimo Pirates on March 10 (weather permitting). They will then host the Victoria Mariners on March 17.
The regular season opens on the road against the Victoria Mariners April 13. Their first home game is Sunday, April 14, against the Eagles.
