The Marysburg Royals have enjoyed a terrific run of success for most of the last century, but some tough luck and bad timing kept the club from adding to their considerable collection of playoff and provincial trophies.
The Royals closed the season with losses in three of their last four contests, getting eliminated in the Saskatoon Senior Baseball League playoffs in three games by the Saskatoon Stallions.
Timing was not on the Royals’ side for the playoff series, as the club found themselves with just nine players for each of the three games, with players off farming and four others representing Saskatchewan at the U21 Baseball Canada Cup.
“The timing of all that is tough. We’ve come across that every single year we’re in this league. We know that going into the beginning of the year that league playoffs for us are going to be not easy to play in because we do normally have a few guys that are harvesting,” said Royals short stop Curtis Strueby.
“This year league playoffs were a tad bit earlier actually, however harvest was too. And then it ran into the 21 and under baseball national championships, which four of our guys were at.”
Having four players leave to represent Saskatchewan was not ideal for the Royals, particularly given the timing, but Strueby says it is a nice problem to have.
“It just goes to show the quality of young players we have on our team. The weekend before that four of them were also picked up to take part in junior AAA westerns in St. Albert with the Regina Reds. So it goes to show how many strong young players we have and it bodes well for our future.”
The playoff loss could be considered an upset of sorts, as the Royals went in as the league’s top seed after finishing the regular season with a record of 16-2.
Knowing playoffs are always tough, Strueby says the Royals always make it a goal to win the regular season pennant, a feat they accomplished again this year, giving them eight pennants in the last ten years.
“We still played well in playoffs. To push it to three games was something. We literally had nine guys and our pitchers, hats off to them. We had a few guys on the mound that did not pitch much or at all this year and went in there and did an admirable job.”
The Royals picked up the pennant thanks in large part to a 15 game winning streak, which saw the Royals turn a 1-1 record into a 16-1 record.
Despite winning 15 straight games, Strueby says the club was not doing anything different, saying they were just showing up to the park to play.
“We had a lot of fun this year and when you’re loose and having fun good things happen. That’s what the team did this year and we got along really well. Everyone on the team jelled so-to-speak and it was almost like a happy-go-lucky atmosphere.”
In the midst of their lengthy league winning streak, the Royals also competed at provincials, looking to claim their first championship since 2011.
Unfortunately for the Royals, despite playing solid baseball and posting a 2-1 round robin record, the club failed to make the final on a tiebreaker.
“We played well enough at provincials this year with the exception of an inning or two but I guess that’s all it takes when you get into a tiebreaking formula like that,” lamented Strueby.
“To go 2-1 in a four-team round robin, 95 per cent of the time you’re going to make the playoffs and this time it just didn’t work out that way. So nothing to be ashamed of there, we played well enough just the numbers didn’t go our way in the end.”
Despite things not working out for the Royals at either provincials or in the playoffs, Strueby says it was a good season, and says they got great seasons out of a lot of players.
“From our veterans we had some good seasons, which you need. We really try to lead by example,” he said.
“We had a few guys right out of midget again that kind of slid right in. It’s a big adjustment but they handled it really well and our young guys in the field, at the plate, and on the mound really kind of just slid right in to the senior game and didn’t really miss a beat so it was good to see.”
Looking ahead to next year, Strueby says the club should be competitive once again.
In the meantime, the club will enjoy a winter off, and Strueby would like to thank everyone who helped make 100 special.
“From coming out to our camp in the spring to people who showed up at our games and people who came to provincials and the people who came to the reunion and Affinity Credit Union.”
