Same old story for Armena

In a cruel world of reality the Armena Royals franchise is stuck in a nightmarish version of Groundhog Day – over and over and over again.

That’s because they continually find devastating ways to lose baseball games each season with striking similarity to past flounders.

Thursday night was no different as junk-balling Royals pitcher Cody Sroka kept the Leduc Milleteers at bay almost the entire night but lost 8-3, somewhat similar to his 3-2 loss last year in Leduc on June 2.

Getting ground balls and pop-ups the whole night, Sroka carried a 2-1 lead heading into the final frame after Jason Buzzell singled in a run in the first inning and then scored on a throwing error by Ryan Walker in the bottom of the sixth on a Zack Kempf chopper to third.

The crafty right-hander who changed to No. 6 this season, Sroka got a ground ball out to start the 7th inning before the wheels slowly came off the Armena bus. An error by Landon Miller, followed by a throwing error on a steal attempt by catcher Kyle Ellis and a fielding error by centre fielder Wes Wilson on the same play tied the game quickly at 2-2.

The bases became loaded before first baseman Murray Doyle unleashed the right hook, a bases-clearing double to left field.

The Royals would score one more in the seventh but looked a little stunned, or maybe just numb to yet another loss – their sixth in a row. Leduc meanwhile kept their streak of undefeated play (12 games) alive since opening night.

The Royals now are a big hurdle for Bardo’s and Camrose’s playoff hopes as they play Tuesday versus Bardo and Thursday in Camrose. Sandwiched between those two games is another make-up, but meaningless game against Leduc again – this time in Leduc.

It’ll be a busy week to end the season.

“We’ll just go try to end the season on a high note and hope to salvage a bit of pride,” associate player-coach Jason Buzzell said. “I’m tired of analyzing what ifs of the same kind of losses every night.”

July 8, 2011 by Jason Buzzell