Short-handed Royals play one of their better games but end up on short end of stick in 0-1 loss

A short-handed Royals squad played one of its better games of the year in a vailant effort but came up just short in a 0-1 loss to Nevada 4. The team was depleted by 2 players playing in another league and one on vacation, leaving coaches to scramble to find enough players to field a team. Step in Jared Roberts and Katie Price (younger sister of Nic) who willingly offered to help the team out. The already young squad then had the adversity of only having 9 players instead of the normal 10 in the field as 1 player did not show, leaving only two 4th graders on the squad and the rest to be made up by 3rd graders, three 2nd graders and one first grader. A scenario that could have lead to a complete collapse turned out to be a joining force as the young team decided to give it their all and almost pulled out a victory. Pitching and defense returned in full force for the Royals as Peyton Larsen pitched 2 1/3 innings and Grant Tiarks came in in relief. They two allowed only 2 hits and struck out 5 in great pitching performances. Unfortunately 1 of the 2 hits was a HR that plated the only run of the night. The HR was a very sharply hit ball that Garret Tiarks made a diving effort to stop on the infield, but made it through and due to only having 3 outfielders because of missing players it went deep into the outfield. Nic Price and Katie Price sprinted to retrieve the ball and a good cut off and throw by Garret to home plate just missed getting the sliding runner at home. Defensively several nice plays were made with Garret Tiarks having 2 assists and 1 putout, Peyton Larsen getting an assist and Grant Tiarks having 3 putouts and an assist for the game. Offensively Peyton Larsen had a double on a good hit to center, Garret Tiarks and Ben Pepper had solid singles and Parker Eley had a solid rap that the 2nd baseman made a good stop on, and was able to get Parker by a step at first. Jared Roberts playing in his first game at the 3rd & 4th level and seeing his first live pitching, hit a solid base hit off a ballthrown by the Nevada pitcher and Katie Price showed great determination and grit in her first action versus live pitching as she stayed in on a inside-pitched ball that brushed her jersey as it went by. The ump awarded her first base but Katie told him it hadn't hit her and she showed her mental toughness and stepped right back in and took her cuts. The Royals out-hit Nevada 4 to 2 and had half of their at-bats ended up with the ball in play but the lone home run was the difference and likely would have been kept to a single had we had all 10 positions filled. I personally would like to thank Katie Price and Jared Roberts and their parents for stepping up for the 3rd and 4th baseball team. With out them playing we would have had to forfeit the game and no one would have gotten to play. Also Garret Tiarks and Parker Eley and their parents deserve a special thank you for stepping up a level all year and foregoing a lot of their games in T-Ball so that 3rd & 4th baseball could field a team this year. The Royals return to action Wednesday in Zearing at 6:00.