Royal boys fall in playoffs

ROYAL CITY - Falling to Zillah, 9-7, on Friday, the Royal High School baseball team concluded its season in the second round of the district playoffs.

But coach Daren Christensen was upbeat just the same. His team was still battling in the seventh inning, and eight of his starters will return next year.

Of particular note was the relief pitching effort of Kent Christensen. He held the Leopards to one run over three innings while Royal was scoring three.

Zillah was leading, 9-5 after six innings and appeared to be home free. But Royal scored two runs in the top of the seventh and was in position to tie the score before finally giving way.

Royal committed four errors on what coach Christensen termed soft grounders. The Knights had struggled against such hitting earlier in the season, and it came back to haunt them Friday.

"Lately we were making those plays," coach Christensen said. "We just couldn't stop the bleeding at times. Still they battled and had the tying run up at the plate. Overall I was happy with the season."

-Staff report