A series of untimely injuries and unfortunate defensive collapses left the Marysburg Royals out of the playoffs at the Senior AA baseball provincials over the weekend in Saskatoon.
The Royals finished with a 1-2 record in pool play and lost a playoff spot to the Regina Capitals, who had a better run differential.
"It didn't go nearly as well as we'd hoped for," said Royals manager Curtis Strueby.
The team's opening game of the tournament, a 9-8 loss to the Saskatoon Stallions, was an especially cruel affair. Marysburg entered the bottom of the seventh and final inning with a comfortable 8-4 lead, only to see it slip away as the Stallions scored five runs to complete their comeback.
"We actually played a really good game," Strueby said. "Our defence was good, but they had one good inning and that was it."
It's impossible to say whether such a tough loss affected the team throughout the tournament, but Strueby wasn't going to rule it out.
"We said in the dressing room that we can't let the first game affect us," he said, "but it's always in the back of your mind that we should have won last night and we'd be in a much better situation if we had."
The second game, against the Saskatoon Diggers, was a more mundane loss, a 4-2 affair that put the Royals behind the figurative eight ball; with losses in the two opening games, the team needed to win their last game against the Capitals to have any hope of advancing.
They did their job, winning 6-5, and got some help from other teams, but lost out based on run differential.
Bad luck also struck, as two of the Royals' top players went down with injuries. Pitcher Dean Jaeb could only throw two innings in the opening game against the Stallions before shutting it down.
"You gotta give your ace a chance," Strueby said. "He wanted the ball but it just didn't work out."
Also hurting was slugger Braden Bauml, who could only offer two pinch-hit at-bats the whole weekend.
Fortunately for the Royals they still have a chance to make up for an opportunity lost at provincials by winning the regular season title in the Saskatoon Senior Baseball League. (The provincials are held prior to the end of regular league play due to high demand at the diamonds in Saskatoon.) With seven games remaining the Royals are in first place, six points ahead of the Saskatoon Stallions.
"Our goal is to finish in first place and right now we've got a sizable lead," Strueby said.
Marysburg will next play in Saskatoon on Thursday as part of a doubleheader against the Saskatoon Diggers and Smokin' Guns at 6:30 and 9 p.m.
The Royals' next home games will be a doubleheader against the Saskatoon Outlaws on Aug. 18. The first game will start at noon as opposed to the usual time of 1 p.m.
