Photo by Marissa Tiel
OUT – Shylar Botterill, middle, of the Growlers tags a Royals baserunner at third. It was her first of two outs at third in the third inning. The Royals won the game 12-9.
Last ranked Royals pull off upset
The XR Royals pulled off a David versus Goliath feat,
The XR Royals pulled off a David versus Goliath feat, beating the Yukon Brewing Growlers in the first game of the Whitehorse Co-ed Slo-pitch division 3B playoffs last night.
The Royals, who won only one game in the regular season, beat the division 3B regular season winners 12-9.
“I believe we were the higher seed coming in, but that didn’t seem to matter,” said Growlers team captain, Eliot Kaminecki. “We couldn’t really get on our bats and our defense was a little sloppy.”
Many of the players on his team were fresh off a division C Dustball win as team Big Bear Donair.
With the Growlers at bat first, they were able to score one run, getting through nearly their whole batting line-up.
The Royals responded with three runs of their own before shortstop Shane Tisiga was able to shut their momentum down with a fast double play to tag the runner between second and third and then step on second for the last out.
“When he gets the ball, he knows how to get those extra outs,” said Kaminecki.
The Growlers scored two more in the second, before the Royals responded in a big way with four runs to take the lead.
While Kaminecki started pitching in the first, Greg Shaffer took over the duties in the second.
“We do that all the time,” said Kaminecki. “They were hitting off me pretty good, but with Greg in there it seemed to slow them down a bit more, so that’s why we left it.”
At the top of the third, the Royals shut out the Growlers with three straight outs.
In the bottom of the inning, Shaffer walked two players as third baseman Shylar Botterill stepped up, getting two outs at her base.
At the top of the sixth, the Royals got a double play of their own, throwing to first for the first out and then to home for the second. The first baseman jumped up, arms in the air to celebrate.
Lowell Tait, team captain for the Royals, said it was a fun game.
“We’ve been kind of the underdog the entire season, so it was fun to finally pull it together,” he said. “They’re a fun team to play against and it’s all positive on the field.”
Playoffs continue tonight at fields around Whitehorse, with the finals being played the last week of July.
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