Rosalind unphased by game one trip-up

The Rosalind A’s had four games in 9 days, were without one of their top pitchers and had to battle the defending champions to the bitter end before Thursday night, so although this author might have pegged them favourites, the Royals were sitting and waiting at home ready and able Thursday night in a 15-5 win.

Rosalind fell behind early but pounced midway through for five runs that made the score look close. Most, were as predicted, based on the Royals bobbling the ball, which debatably was an issue during parts of the season.

“We had one shaky inning where infield made four errors,” said veteran Clark Banack of the Royals, appearing in his 40th or so PBL playoff contest.

The Royals were buoyed by the bats of Doug Morris, Zenan Sherbaniuk and Jordan Hoover who all had multi-hit games. Dean Prpick crushed a 3-RBI double late to cap the night. Lyndon Galvin picked up the win and moved to 2-0 in the playoffs.

Rosalind is ready to fight back.

“We had the bases loaded with none out and squandering that opportunity took the wind out of our sails,” said Rosalind’s Sheldon Pederson after the game. “I’m still confident that we’ll have a better game two and look to extend the series to a winner take all game back in Armena.”

Pitchers are still to be determined. Ian Sherbaniuk and Hoover pitched game two versus Beaumont. Who Rosalind will go to in the absence of Dan Enright is still in question. Additionally, the Royals will be losing Prpick now as the teams mix and match for the final week of the season.