The Ridge Meadows Royals bantam AAA baseball team finished third at the 2011 provincials championships last weekend in Victoria, their best result in close to 10 years.
The Royals narrowly missed out on the Championship final as they lost 7-6 to the Vancouver Mounties in the tournament semi-final, leaving the winning run on second base in the top of the seventh inning.
The Royals fell 4-3 in their opener against the White Rock Riptide, before bouncing back against the Victoria Juniors 7-1.
The second day of the tournament saw the Royals lock horns with the Cloverdale Spurs and in a tightly-played affair, dropped the 3-2 contest. Despite keeping the runs against down, the Royals struggled to break through offensively.
The Royals faced North Delta in their final round robin game, coming out with a 6-2 victory and advancing to the tournament playoffs.
That set up the semi-final showdown with the Vancouver Mounties, the seventh meeting between the two teams this year.
Royals started left-handed pitcher Kyle Ross on the mound who battled the Mounties for three innings, giving up four runs.
The Royals put in Graham Bailey in relief, but couldn’t keep the last two runs from crossing the plate despite two strong innings pitched.
Royals hitters battled all day, but couldn’t break through the Mounties starting pitcher.
The Royals offence finally broke through in the seventh inning for five runs started by a Ben Stadnik bunt for a base hit.
Mounties were forced to go to their third pitcher on the day and just narrowly escaped with the victory as time ran out on the Royals.
The Royals finish the season with a 26-12-1 record in regular season league play, good for third place, and a 41-19-4 record overall.
The 2011 bantam AAA Ridge Meadows Royals are Ryan Anderson, Graham Bailey, Kole Benard, Devon Bird, Nick Evans, Bayley Germaine, Liam Godfrey, Brendan Halstrom, Matt Jonsen, Colin McMaster, Andre Pelletier, Kyle Ross, Ben Stadnik, and Matt Whieldon.