Royals still looking for first win

October 1, 2015 · 0 Comments

The Centre Dufferin District High School Royals are still looking for their first win of the season after taking an 11–1 loss to Guelph Collegiate during the Royals first home game at Princess of Wales Park in Orangeville on Wednesday, September 23.
The Royals aren’t lacking in talent, they’ve got a good looking ball team this season. They just haven’t come out with the winning runs so far.
The squad lost their first two games on the road taking a 6–3 loss to Our Lady of Lourdes and an 8–4 loss to St. James.
Wednesday’s home opener saw the Royals trailing 6–1 in the third inning after Guelph opened the scoring early in the game.
The Guelph team ran up the score in the fourth inning when they had a huge hit over the left field fence for a two-run home run.
The Royals ran into trouble in the fourth when a short hit caused an out at first base when the throw was made to the player trying to get back on base.
The Shelburne squad had some good defensive plays including a wild leaping catch by third baseman Jake Currie and a nice snag at first base by Aaron Fuller for the tag on base and the second out of the inning.
In the fifth the Royals had a few opportunities starting with a single by Mitchell Skilton on a hit to shallow centre field. That was followed up with a base hit from Nick Bannon who went on to steal second, then third base. The side retired before they could capitalize on the situation.
The sixth was a big inning for Guelph who managed to bring in three runs.
The Centre Dufferin squad had a good final inning with Ty Doney getting on base and stealing second.
With a man on third and first, the game ended with a Royals fly to second base.
“I though we played very hard,” said Royals pitcher Cade Burton. “There were plays that we could have done better but I think we’re improving as a team as we go through the year.”
Burton played several innings on the mound – an impressive feat for a grade nine player hurling against a more experienced and older Guelph squad.
The squad this year has a mix of senior and junior players on the squad with many of the younger players having experience in local summer leagues.
“We’re a young team so we’re constantly learning and getting valuable experience,” said Royals Grade ten player Nick Bannon. “We’re developing players for future years. We may not have the strongest team this year, but in the one or two years I think we’ll have a really strong team.”
The Royals will be back at their home diamond at Princess of Wales Park on Monday, October 5, to host John F. Ross CVI. Game time is 3:30 p.m.

By Brian Lockhart

Photos by Brian Lockhart
The Centre Dufferin District High School Royals baseball team takes on Guelph Collegiate at Princess of Wales Park in Orangeville. The Royals are turning out a good performance on the diamond this season but still looking for their first win after three games.