The Prince Albert U15 AA Royals started their home schedule in style with a 10-0 win over the Northern Jays in five innings at Lypchuk Field on Wednesday night.
Jays starter Brooklyn Leibel and Royals starter Nash Noble matched each other through the first two innings, putting up zeros.
After a two out double in the bottom of the third by Emmett Kihn, the Royal bats would find life. Markus Exner would drive home Kihn for the first run of the game with an RBI double to left.
The next batter Nash Noble would help his own cause by taking a Leibel offering over the right field wall for a two run home run.
In total, six different players drove in runs for Prince Albert in the win. Head coach Jason Van Otterloo says it was important for the Royals to have contributions from the entire lineup.
“What I liked about this one is the consistent hitting up and down the order for me. We weren’t just running it with the top of the order, we got hits from top to bottom. Best thing for every coach I saw is back to back doubles. Those sorts of things, they are a coach’s dream. We saw a lot of hits that way.”
That would be all the run support that Noble would need on the bump as the right hander would throw the complete game, not allowing a single base runner while striking out 12 on just 56 pitches.
Van Otterloo says Noble was effective because he wasn’t trying to do too much.
“(He was) calm, cool and collected. He wasn’t amped up because it was the home opener. He was calm. He knew what he was doing. He worked through his game plan. He knew he was on a pitch count. He was very efficient throughout the whole game.”
“The best part for me with Nash on the mound is the whole defense settles because they know they got their guy up there. They had three plays they made and they made it clean for him. That’s the best part about baseball when your team backs you up and your pitcher is on the mound and you’re rocking, there’s nothing better.”
On the other side, Leibel threw four innings for Northern allowing six runs on nine hits. She did not allow a walk and struck out five on 66 pitches.
The U15 AA Royals return to action on Monday, May 19 when they travel to the Battlefords for a doubleheader with the Beavers. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
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