The Ridge Meadows Royals bantam AAA baseball team won five games in a row en route to taking the 2011 Doc Plottsky Tournament in Sherwood Park, ALberta last weekend, scoring 71 runs in that span.
The Royals opened the tournament on Friday with a 13-1 win over the host Sherwood Park Gold Athletics team, having just stepped off the bus after 14 hours on the road.
The Royals scored in the first three innings, taking a 4-1 lead before turning on the heat late in the game.
Graham Bailey started on the hill, surrendering just one unearned run in three innings pitched. Bayley Germaine threw in relief with Kole Benard closing. Offensively, Ben Stadnik hit a home run and added a double while Matt Jonsen had two doubles and four runs.
The Royals blanked the South Edmonton Cardinals 13-0 on Saturday, led by Brendan Halstrom, who picked up three hits, including a double. On the mound, Kyle Ross, Colin McMaster, and Nick Evans combined for a one-hit shutout.
Sunday saw the Royals play three games in the span of nine hours as they advanced to the finals.
The Royals started the day with an 18-5 win over the Saskatoon Braves. Royals hitters got off to an excellent start scoring 11 runs in the first two innings before they cruised to victory.
Ross collected two hits and three runs, while McMaster added a solo home run late in the game.
On the mound, Ryan Anderson started the game and nearly finished it off until he ran into pitch count trouble late.
The Royals beat the Red Deer Braves 10-4 in the tournament semi-final, scoring eight runs in the first two innings as Devon Bird, Matt Whieldon, Germain and McMaster all had multiple hit games.
That set up a tournament final with the host Sherwood Park Gold Athletics team, a rematch of the Royals opening game of the weekend.
Pitcher Graham Bailey surrendered eight runs in the first three innings while the team struggled with a questionable strike zone and sub-par fielding. Germaine took the mound in relief and allowed just a single run in the next three innings.
Down by six runs, the Royals bats came alive as they scored 12 runs to make the score 14-9 by the end of the sixth. Andre Pelletier had five hits, McMaster had four hits (two triples), and Jonsen added a triple.
The Athletics did their best to claw their way back into the game, but the potent Royals offence proved too much as they won the game 17-15 to take the tournament championship.