CARTER Bell belts a single to deep right center with his first swing of the bat last Wednesday. Bell is looking forward to representing the red and white at the World Junior Baseball championships.
One game left for QF Royals
By James Clarke - Parksville Qualicum Beach News
Published: July 03, 2008 7:00 PM
The Mariners rained on the Royals’ parade and Parksville’s boys of the BCPBL are clinging to the final playoff spot with one regular season game remaining.
Looking particularly patriotic in their bright red uniforms for a two-game home stand on Canada Day, the Quality Foods crew generated four runs in the bottom of the third inning in game one — but gave up three in the fourth and two more in the fifth — en route to a 5-4 loss.
Royals ace Ali Simpson went the distance, striking out eight along the way.
Standout shortstop Carter Bell was back in the lineup for his second outing since coming off a hand injury suffered at the BC’s Best Baseball Classic. Bell clubbed a single to right center with his first swing of the bat.
The Royals got two singles each from Jared Hendry and Laine Gleason and a solo single from Bruce Biro, but it wasn’t enough.
Asked if he had anything he wanted to say to the team before the start of the game, head coach Dave Wallace said, “yeah, we need to win. Let’s go boys.”
In game two, the fifth place Ms manufactured 10 runs in the first four innings and cruised to an 11-2 win.
The losses leave the Royals at 13-26 on the season and sitting ninth in the 11-team league, with eight games left in the regular season.
The Royals are in Nanaimo to take on the third place Pirates (24-14) July 9. They then travel to the mainland July 13 for a two game set against the seventh place Fraser Valley Chiefs (17-18).
The Q crew are in Victoria July 15 for one game against the fifth place M’s (21-16), then close out the regular season at home July 19 and 20 with double headers against sixth place Abbotsford (Saturday) and last place Kelowna (Sunday).
