In consecutive games, the Prince George Knights had the chance to hang losses on the Ridge Meadows Royals. But, both times, the local bantam double-A baseball team couldn't hold last-inning leads and ended up missing the playoffs at the Baseball B.C. provincial championship tournament.
At the nine-team event, held over the weekend in Pitt Meadows, the host Royals went on to beat Cowichan Valley 10-0 in the title game.
"We play the top team twice in the round robin, and no one else has to do that," said Knights assistant coach Russell Pratt. "There were three teams there that were easily above the rest I would say, and that was Ridge Meadows, us and Cowichan Valley. We're definitely in that mix."
The unbalanced pools - four teams on one side of the draw and five on the other - created the tough schedule for the Knights, who were told the additional game against the Royals was the result of a card being pulled out of a hat.
The 15-and-under Knights opened the tournament with a 12-6 win against the Abbotsford Angels last Friday morning. Then came the back-to-back losses to the Royals - 3-2 on Friday night and 13-11 on Saturday afternoon.
In the 3-2 setback, the Knights got great pitching performances from starter Richard French and reliever Brady Pratt and were ahead 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning. With a victory just three outs away, Brady Pratt struck out the first Ridge Meadows batter with a nasty curve but the Knights catcher couldn't hang onto the ball and that allowed the Royals player to reach first base. Then, the next batter - the Ridge Meadows cleanup hitter - drilled a walk-off home run.
In the 13-11 loss, the Knights stayed right with a hot-hitting Royals team and found themselves in a 5-5 tie after five innings. In the top of the sixth, with Ridge Meadows at bat, the Knights got the first two outs but an infield error gave the Royals a slight opening and they took full advantage by scoring five runs and taking a 10-5 lead. In the bottom of the sixth, the never-say-die Knights responded with six runs and moved into an 11-10 advantage.
In the top of the seventh, the Royals were at the top of their batting order and scored three more times for a 13-11 lead. The Knights, with a chance to win the game in the bottom of the seventh, got runners to second and third base with one out but weren't able to bring them home.
Despite the fact the Knights had two of their top throwers on the mound - Kolby Lukinchuk and Tom Kreitz - the Royals ripped four home runs in the contest.
"This is a solid team, especially their first five hitters," Russell Pratt said of Ridge Meadows.
"If we win one of those two games, that knocks them out of the playoffs," Pratt added. "We really controlled our own destiny, and not once, but twice, we were able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory."
In their final game of the tournament, the Knights beat Ladner 8-3. In that one, pitcher Brady Pratt went the distance.
Over the past three weekends - including appearances at the Valley of the Champions tournament in Kelowna and the B.C. Minor Baseball provincials in Burnaby - the Knights played some high-level baseball. They placed second to the Royals in Kelowna and posted a 3-1 record on the tough side of the draw in Burnaby, only to be eliminated from playoffs in a tiebreaker.
"This is a good group of kids - very passionate about the game and (they) work extremely hard," Russell Pratt said. "We were at the ball park five days a week for the last three or four months. I can't say enough good things about them."
Buck Schmidt is head coach of the Knights. The other assistants are Brad Kreitz and Blake Miller.
