New Westminster’s all-star baseball team took a historic big first step, earning a berth into the B.C. Little League championship tournament for the very first time in the association’s history.
The New West major league boys knocked off the perennial District 6 favourites from Hastings 11-1 in the championship final hosted by Trout Lake on Friday.
The Royals started the tournament on a sour note with a loss to Hastings 12-1, but would New Westminster sweetened things up with a 23-point turnaround in the championship final.
The Royal City club warmed up for what was ahead, crushing the host club 15-1 and then blanking the defending B.C. Little League champion South Vancouver 11-0 to advance to the semifinal.
The semifinal proved no contest, with the Royals cruising to another big win over Trout Lake, this time by a 22-6 scoreline.
The stage was set for the season’s biggest game to date and it did not disappoint.
Justin Adamoski got the start for New West and was absolutely spectacular on the mound, pitching a gem for the Royals, while going the distance in the biggest game of his young Little League career.
New West got to Hastings starter Loreto Sinicialli early in the game, when Trevor Tong ripped a fast ball to the left field fence with runners on, giving the Royals a 2-0 lead in the opening inning.
Later in the game, Hastings’ best chance to make a game of it was extinguished when Max Yuen fielded a grounder and made a perfect throw to get the runner at home plate.
Liam Bates gave the Royals a bigger cushion when he took a pitch from Hastings’ reliever Girodano Mezzomo over the right field fence with a runner on. Mateo Lesjak then put the game on ice with a grand-slam home run in the fourth inning.
The district win was the first ever for a New Westminster Little League team to earn a berth into a provincial championship tournament.
"All of our players have a role to play on this team and tonight was no different,” said Royals coach Ben Tong. “We will celebrate this one, but we hope our journey is far from over."
The Royal will get a full week of practice in before next weekend’s provincial championship, which is being played in South Vancouver.
New West opens play at South Memorial Park against District 1 on Saturday, July 18.
Semifinal matchups will be played on Saturday, July 25, with the championship final scheduled for the following Sunday at 2 p.m.
New Westminster’s full provincial schedule looks like this:
Sat., July 18 - 3:30 p.m. New Westminster vs District 1
Sun., July 19 - noon New Westminster vs District 3
Mon., July 20 - 6 p.m. New Westminster vs host South Vancouver
Tues., July 21 - 3 p.m. New Westminster vs District 8
Wed., July 22 - noon New Westminster vs District 7
Thurs., July 23 - noon New Westminster vs District 5
Sat., July 25 - 3 p.m. 1st vs 4th
Sat., July 25 - 6 p.m. 2nd vs 3rd
Sun., July 26 - 2 p.m. Championship game
