2011 Doc Plottsky Memorial Champions

Royals Go 5-0 and Win Sherwood Park, Alberta Tournament!

Game 1

Royals 13 Sherwood Park Gold 1

It was a cold and windy evening at Sherwood Heights Park and the Athletics were missing 3 players at middle school graduation but considering the Royals had just got off the bus after a 14 hour ride this was a great result.  The Royals scored in the first 3 innings taking a 4-1 lead and then turned the heat on late in the game piling on another 9 runs.

Bailey started on the hill and went to the minimum pitch limit under Alberta baseball rules (30 pitches) only surrendering 1 unearned run over 3IP.  Germain threw in relief with Benard ending it in the last inning.

Offensively, Stadnik hit another homerun and added a double while Jonsen had 2 doubles and 4 runs scored in the game.

Game 2

Royals 13 SEEBA Cardinals 0

On Saturday afternoon the Royals faced the South Edmonton Cardinals under less than ideal conditions but slightly better than the previous night.  Again the Royals offense was on full display against the Cardinals as they posted 13 runs.  The Royals scored 9 runs over the first two innings with Halstrom picking up 3 hits including a double while Benard had two extra base hits one being a triple.

On the mound Ross, MacMaster, and Evans combined for a complete game 1-hit shutout (10 of 15 outs were K's).

Game 3

Royals 18 Saskatoon Braves 5

Sunday morning was the start of a possible grueling string of back-to-back-to-back games.  The Royals were required to win three consecutive games to take home the tournament championship.  Royals hitters got off to an excellent start scoring 11 runs in the first two innings before they cruised to victory.  Ross was all over the basepaths in the game collecting two hits, 1 HBP, 1 BB and scoring 3 runs in 4 PAs.  MacMaster added a 320+ ft solo-HR late in the game.

On the mound Anderson started the game and nearly finished it off until he ran into pitch count trouble late.  With the game 18-1 in the bottom of the 5th the Royals only blemish was surrendering 4 runs that inning on 2 errors, a hit batsmen and 2 hits.

Game 4 (Semi-Finals)

Royals 10 Red Deer Braves 4

In the semi-finals the Royals faced a well organized and tough Red Deer team.  The difference was that Red Deer pitching could not cool off the hottest bats in the tournament.  The Royals scored their lowest run total of the tournament (10) which could still be considered excellent offensive production.  Royals scored 8 runs off of a hard throwing righty from Red Deer over the first two innings.  Bird, Whieldon, Germain and MacMaster all had multiple hit games.

On the mound Halstrom collected the win as he was the 4th different starter in 4 games in the tournament.  He collected 6 K's over the first 3 innings of work.

Game 5 (Finals)

Royals 17 Sherwood Park Gold 15

The final game was the third in a row and a rematch of the first game of the tournament.  The Royals would play 3 games in 9 hours with minimal rest between so this was going to be a real gritty effort.  Bailey started on the mound and had a rough start but battled through while surrendering 8 runs over 3 innings of work.  This was probably the only bad start this season for Bailey but doubled with a lack of support on defense and an extremely questionable strike zone the damage was exasperated.  At the end of thee innings the Royals found themselves down 8-2 against a team that clearly wanted a better result than the tournament opener.

Germain entered the game in relief of Bailey and pitched a solid 3 innings surrendering only a single run in the 6th.  By this point the Royals bats came alive as they scored 12 runs from the 3rd to the 6th.  In the top of the 7th the Royals added 3 more to make the score 17-9.   Pelletier had 5 hits (2 for extra bases) and MacMaster had 4 hits (two triples).  Jonsen added a triple and was HBP twice.

In the bottom of the 7th Benard came into the game when the stike zone apparently vanished before his eyes.  Benard took 7 batters to 2 strike counts and looked as if he had collected a third strike on each one of them when they were mysteriously called balls, save 2 of them that ended in strikeouts.  The other 5 ended in hits or walks to the dismay of Royals coaches and parents.  When the dust settled the Athletics score 6 runs to make the game resemble more like a football score than that of a baseball game.  In the end the boys pulled through and got the win regardless of the process and showed alot of character to come back in a game where they were down 8-2.  Not to mention that this was their 3rd game in a row.

Great tournament win, great trip and great experience.  Total of 71 runs scored in 5 games has to be some kind of a record.  There were two HRs hit out of a Midget sized fence as well as 22 extra base hits recorded by Royals hitters.  This was great preparation for possible Provincial Championships in Victoria.