Nanaimo Wins Inaugural Ridge Meadows Royals Invitational
Posted April 6, 2016
On a weekend that saw absolutely perfect weather conditions, the Nanaimo Buccaneers went a perfect 6-0 to win the inaugural Ridge Meadows Royals Invitational Tournament this past weekend.
Nanaimo went a perfect 4-0 in the round robin to win Pool B and advance to the semi-final where they defeated the Tri-City Indians 7-1. Their counterpart in the final, the Langley Jr. Blaze, were also undefeated going in to the championship game after winning Pool A with a 4-0 record and beating the White Rock Jr. Tritons in the semi-final by a score of 19-1.
The championship game was a tightly contested affair. Langley held a 4-3 lead after 3 innings. Nanaimo scored a single run to tie it in the 4th inning, before exploding for 6 runs in the bottom of the 5th to take a 10-4 lead. The Blaze came right with 3 in the top of the 6th to make it 10-7, but the Buccaneers answered with another run in the bottom half to finish the scoring in an 11-7 final. Langley's Brendan Winning was named tournament MVP, finishing 9-15, 5 extra-base hits, 8 RBI's, 5 stolen bases, 10 runs scored, 4 walks, and 3 hit by pitch.
The host team Ridge Meadows Royals struggled early on in the tournament and were unable to recover to qualify for the playoff round. On Thursday night they opened the tournament with a 6-2 loss to Langley. On Friday, the team blew consecutive 6 run leads in the last inning, resulting in a 7-7 tie with Vancouver and a 9-8 loss to Tri-City. By the end of the day Friday, the Royals were eliminated from the semi-finals. With only pride on the line, the team won their final game of the round robin, beating Sherwood Park 7-6 to finish with a 1-2-1 record.
Overall it was a great weekend of baseball for all 10 teams. We enjoyed great weather and some great baseball to kick the season off. The Royals will open league play this Sunday (April 10th) with a double-header at home against the West Kelowna Diamondbacks.
