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THE NEWS, Friday, July 8, 2011 •
A27
SPORTS Many innings, fewer runs Royals split series with Nanaimo after a 16-inning marathon By JAMES CLARKE PQ NEWS SPORTS The Quality Foods Parksville Royals baseball team went toe-to-toe with the front-running (and favoured) Nanaimo Pirates on July 2 — losing 3-1 in a marathon game one that took 16 innings and five pitchers to decide. The locals did bounce back with a big 8-0 romp in game two. Played out under warm, summer conditions, the opener of the double header was the longest game of the year for both teams and the longest for the Royals in team history. Decked out in their Canada Day reds, the Royals were a stubborn bunch against Nanaimo and battled hard but let one slip away. Longtime Royals’ pitching coach, Jim Seredick conceded it was a long day at the office. “Sixteen innings, can you believe that?” he laughed. “It ended up 3-1 for the bad guys, but just outstanding pitching, I mean it was just superb, especially by our second (pitcher) Marcus Drewry, he came in in the 5th and he pitched 10 solid innings — he gave up four hits and no runs. Remarkable.” SEE
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SKIM BOARDIN’ It’s official: skimboarding is taking off in these parts as more and more riders are sprouting up in the tide pools down at Parksville Bay. “It’s great -- I love it,” a tanned Nick Taekema, 17 (top), puffed between runs at a log jump he and his buddies (including James Dixon, 16, right) had set up on Wednesday. There were, by our count, about 10 skimboarders scattered around the big beach tearing up the H2O that day.
Howie and Leah Meeker share a laugh during their big Canada Day afternoon, a celebration of Howie’s recent appointment to the Order of Canada. JAMES CLARKE PHOTO
A Meeker holiday By JAMES CLARKE PQ NEWS SPORTS “There were people there I haven’t seen in 30, 40 years, and to look up and see them standing in line ... it was a great day, a proud day.”
JAMES CLARKE PHOTOS
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