Royals win the Championship
The 2017 regular season was an up and down affair for the Royals. At times
throughout, the SABL mainstay struggled to field a team of its regulars. With the
longtime core shuffling in and out of the lineup, the Royals still managed to win
the Howley Division by 1.5
games over their erstwhile adversaries, the Astos. The Royals posted a
strong 20-8-2 record thanks to standout performances by Mike Barnett and Shawn Carriere on the mound, while Gbenga Ajasin, Mike Steward, and rookie sensation Steve Kaye anchored the ever-steady
lineup.
Once the playoffs rolled around, team attendance ticked upwards and the Royals played
their best ball of the season. In the first round, they disposed of a rising young
Giants team that had previously dominated them throughout the regular season. Facing
the one team they didn't want to see in the first round, the Royals found their
groove, winning three straight games to sweep the series.
In the second round, the Royals ran into their old foes, the Braves. Behind the solid
pitching and the resurgent bat of Phil
Hiemstra, the Royals won a berth in the finals with a 3-1 series victory.
Once again, it was Royals vs. Astros for all the marbles. In this most classic of
SABL matchups, the Royals needed to overcome former league Cy Young winner Dave Gemmell, who had almost
singlehandedly eliminated them from the 2016 playoffs with stellar pitching. The
Astros would lean on Gemmell more heavily
than ever, but the Royals countered with their own three-man staff. Ultimately, the
Royals got the better of Gemmell, who pitched 21 innings in the series but could
only secure one victory. In the fourth and final game, the
Royals received dramatic home runs from Steward and Carriere along with solid pitching from
Nyczyk and Carriere to win the game in extra
innings by a score of 4-3.
Catcher Konrad Szczepanik led his pitching
staff and shut down opponents' running game from behind the plate, chipping in with
a .329 postseason batting average. Hiemstra collected 22 hits in the
playoffs to bat .629 and claim the postseason MVP award. Shawn Carriere collected an unbelievable
16 RBI in the playoffs. Carriere and Barnett shut down opponents to the tune
of nine combined wins and a miniscule ERA. SABL veteran Donald Feng won his first league
championship while contributing a batting average of .467. Trevor Mattila played a strong right
field while batting .280. Left field was patrolled by speedster James Wood, stealer of 25 bases in the
regular season. Grant Brown contributed a
slick glove at first base and timely hitting.
All along, the team was held together by second baseman and manager, Donnie Burke, and his assistant manager,
Mike Steward. Coming off of knee surgery,
Burke plugged away for .333 average
following his midseason return to the lineup. In the playoffs, he found the grass
for several keys hits. Most importantly, he steadied the ship through a trying
regular season and had the Royals focused and ready to win come playoff time.
In 2017, SABL's oldest team also happened to be its best team. For the third time in
franchise history, the Royals became SABL champions.