Royals Improve To Three-One

By Dustin Parker

The South Royalton baseball team defeated the Rivendell Raptors last Saturday 14-4.

Parker started the game off with three straight balls from the mound, but fought back to strike out three batters in the top of the first. In the bottom of the first, Tyler Manning led the Royals off with a triple that got past the left fielder. Two batters later, Miles Ellis walked to put runners on the corners. Ellis stole second on the next pitch. Parker hit a line drive up the middle that deflected off the pitcher. Manning scored on the hit, Ellis moved to third and Parker was safe on first. Jack Howe grounded out to the second baseman but scored Ellis from third. After one inning of play, the Royals led 2-0.

In the top of the second, Parker struck out the first batter, but then ran into some trouble. He gave up a single, a fielder's choice and a double that scored two runs for Rivendell.

The Raptors got one more run for a 3-2 lead. The Royals could not get anything going in the home half of the second inning.

The Royals came back with six runs in the third inning. It started with walks to Parker, Howe and Logan White to load the bases. Brian Falzo hit a line drive past the third baseman that scored Parker and Howe. It was Falzo's first double of his varsity career. Marshall Distel hit a single past the shortstop to score White and Falzo. This was also Distel's first hit and RBI's. The Royals got two more singles from Manning and Devin Cilley. Cilley got two RBI's for his single. After three innings the Royals had regained control with an 8-3 lead.

Tyler Manning took over mound duty from Parker in the fourth inning. Manning gave up a run in the fourth, but settled down to strike out one batter and then get two ground outs. After four innings, the Royals were still leading 8-4.

The Royals got the bats out again in the fifth inning, with Distel leading off with a single. Manning and Ellis both reached on errors, and with the bases loaded, Parker hit a double that brought all three Royals home. Howe singled to bring Parker home, and after five innings, the Royals had extended their lead to a 12-4 advantage.

Manning struck out the side in the top of the sixth inning on 13 pitches. The Royals added two more runs in the sixth that started with a Falzo walk. Distel bunted to move Falzo to second, Manning singled to score Falzo. Cilley singled to score Manning, and after six, the Royals held a comfortable lead, 14-4. Manning got three ground outs, two of them to himself to end the game.

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