Midget Royals Fall in Provincial Championship Final
Posted August 8, 2016
After qualifying for the Final 4 last weekend with a sweep of West Kelowna, the Midget Royals made it to the Provincial Final for the second straight year. However, they came up a run short to the eventual champion Chilliwack Cougars.
The Final 4 tournament started on Friday as the Royals matched up with the Nanaimo Buccaneers, a team they had not beat in six previous meetings this season in league play. This trend continued as they dropped the opener 10-6. Jonah Weisner had a strong game at the plate, going 3-5 with a triple and an RBI. Brayden Slaughter also chipped in going 2-2 with a pair of walks and 2 RBI.
On Saturday the Royals took on the Chilliwack Cougars, whom they had defeated in 5 of 6 regular season meetings. The Royals' bats came out hot as they mercied the Cougars 10-0 in 5 innings.Chad Weststeyn was strong on the hill, and they received contributions from throughout the line-up in the win.
With one game remaining for each of the four teams, everyone sat with a record of 1-1. This meant that the winners of the final two games: Chilliwack vs. Nanaimo and Cloverdale vs. Ridge Meadows, would advance to the final. After Chilliwack took care of Nanaimo with a walk-off win, the Royals faced the regular season champion Cloverdale Spurs knowing who they would face should they win. Seth Injates got the start and completely dominated the Spurs, throwing a complete game shutout allowing only 3 hits while striking out 9 en route to a 5-0 win and a birth in the final. Injates also helped himself at the plate with a pair of hits and runs batted in to lead the offence.
On Sunday the Royals met the Chilliwack Cougars in the Provincial Championship game. Josiah Williams got the start for the Royals, and after a bit of a rough start, settled down to provide them with a quality outing. The Cougars scored 3 runs in the first inning to take an early lead. The Royals chipped away with a pair of runs in the middle innings, but were unable to come up with the big hit in a few key spots and lost by a score of 3-2.
Overall, the Midget Royals had a very successful season. The team compiled an overall record of 43-32-1, with a league record of 25-16 which was good enough for 3rd place. The team received strong contributions throughout the roster and saw a great deal of development from the players. A big thanks goes out to our tremendous coaching staff for all of their hard work during the season. Best of luck to the seniors who will be moving on to new and exciting things.
