Royal lesson in close twinbill loss

ROYAL CITY - Yes, the Royal Lady Knights dropped both games of a

doubleheader to league rivals Burbank on Saturday.

Burbank 7-8, ROYAL 6-2

ROYAL CITY - Yes, the Royal Lady Knights dropped both games of a doubleheader to league rivals Burbank on Saturday.

But also it is apparent that the work first-year coach Pete Christensen has paid off as the Lady Knights continue to grow despite the 7-6 and 8-2 South Central Athletic Conference (SCAC) East losses on a beautiful day to play two.

"We are making contact with the ball but our girls' timing is still a bit off," Christensen said. "We only struck out five times for both games which was an improvement over some of the games we have had.  Yet the ones we did hit were either right to someone or the didn't have enough power on them to carry them through the infield."

The two teams battled back an forth in the opener but Royal (4-6, 2-2) were beset by untimely walks and errors.

"Walks are still our Achilles heel," Christensen said. "The pitchers are working hard and their control is getting more fine tuned each week, but we are still missing our spots by just a few inches at times.  We outhit Burbank, but they had more girls on base when they got their hits allowing them to score those needed runs."

Sophomore Haley Delgado pitched complete games in both contests for the Lady Knights.

"We have decided to go with one main pitcher at this time until the others are more game ready," Christensen said. "Lindsey Christensen was one of our main pitchers but she is having back problems so we have moved her out to the field until her back is in better shape."

Maria Garcia went 4-for-6 over the two games and Lindsey Christensen hit an inside the park home run.

"I know the girls are frustrated at this time," Pete Christensen said. "We have a great foundation to build on, but none of our girls play summer ball so there isn't an inning that goes by that doesn't provide a teaching moment."