With four months of intense indoor training behind them, the Oakville Royals Baseball Club escaped the cold and snow, and traveled to St. Petersburg, Florida for a ten day Spring Training trip. During this time the players would each participate in nine workouts and six games against top US Colleges and High Schools. The Royals called the Walter Fuller Complex and Al Lang Stadium home during the trip. Both these facilities were the former Spring Training home for the Tampa Bay Rays. “From a facility standpoint, we were very happy and fortunate for the opportunity to expose our players to Major League facilites”, said Oakville Royals President Mel Swinton.
Immediately after landing in Tampa, the Royals took to the field for their first workout. While it took a little time to shake some of the rust and jet lag off, the workout showed a high intensity level and a great work ethic from all of the players. Coach Milton commented, “ I was really happy with the intensity level and the amount of work we got in. It’s a testament to the professional attitude and work ethic that is preached and adhered to by our players and coach’s. I think it set a great tone for the rest of the trip”.
After a day and half of workouts, the inaugural Swinton Cup was held under sunny skies at Al Lang Stadium. The game would pit the Royals White team against the Royals Blue team. The game featured some great pitching and fielding. In what turned out to be an intense game, the Royals Blue squad came out on top to capture the Swinton Cup.
Day one of games at the Walter Fuller complex would see the Royals White squad play a double-header against the Clearwater Marlins, while the Royals Blue squad would take on Rochester CC, from Rochester, MN. Royals Blue would kick off the day of games by scoring first in their game, but unfortunately coming out on the short end of a 6-1 decision. In game one, the Royals White squad would jump out to an early 2-0 lead and would hold on to win it 7-4. Game two would see Royals White storm out of the gate and a sweep of the Marlins by taking game two 12-2.
On day two of games, Royals White would travel to Eckerd College to take on Dowling Catholic HS, from West Des Moines, Iowa who were State High School champions. After being down 4-0 the White squad showed heart and battled back to score one in the sixth and one in the seventh, but would come up short and lose their first game of the Spring trip 4-2. Back at the Al Lang stadium, Royals Blue would be up against Riverland CC, from Austin, MN. The Royals Blue squad would come out hot offensively, but would end up losing 13-5. Even in the loss the coach’s were very impressed with the play of many of the Royals players.
Before the trip, day three of games was looked upon as a defining day for the Oakville Royals organization, as both Royals teams would be taking on some nationally ranked programs. With many professional scouts and Baseball Canada National Junior Team Head Coach Greg Hamilton on hand, the Royals Blue club would take on Faulkner State CC, from Bay Minette, AL, and Niagara CC, from Niagara Falls, NY. Royals White would take on Silo High School, perennial Oklahoma State High School champions.
The Faulkner State squad was coming off a 2010 NJCAA JUCO World Series appearance. After coming out of the gate slow, the Royals Blue team would persevere and fight, but came out with a 10-3 loss. Instead of hanging their heads, a fired up and intense Royals Blue team would take on Niagara CC who is currently 6th in the NJCAA JUCO rankings. The Royals would take the lead early with some outstanding pitching, defense, and timely hitting. Niagara CC would tie it up late in the game, but in the sixth, the Royals heart and passion would come through to score a run and hang on for a 4-3 victory. “A very exciting day for the organization! Seeing success against national ranked programs is a positive step in the right direction for our organization.” Commented, Director of Baseball Operation – Mike Siena
Royals White had something to prove against Silo High School. Trying come back from a loss the previous day, the White squad came out to take a 3-0 lead. After Silo answered back with two runs in the fifth, Royals White decided to take control of the game with two runs in the sixth and go on to a 5-2 win. After the game Baseball Canada National Junior Team Head Coach Greg Hamilton, and Philadelphia Phillies minor league pitcher Drew Erwin took the time to speak to the players. “This was a great day for the organization, and I think we proved to the parents, players, coach’s, and scouts, that our professional attitude and play on and off field allowed us to be successful against some very impressive competition” said Mel Swinton.
After a light workout day, and a visit to the Toronto Blue Jays minor league complex, the Royals would conclude their schedule of games under sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 80’s with games against Waubonsee CC, from Sugar Grove, IL, and Steinbrenner High School from Lutz, FL. Royals Blue would play one of their better games of the trip and had opportunities to shut down the tough Waubonsee squad, but closed out their schedule with a 9-7 loss. The Royals White club would travel to Lutz, FL and take on Steinbrenner High School. With Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Jesse Litsch, and former Royal and current Jays minor leaguer Dalton Pompey in the crowd, the White squad held Steinbrenner close for four innings, but Steinbrenner’s offence was too much for the Royals White team to handle with the final score being 10-3. After the game Jesse Litsch spoke to the players and said how impressed he was with their play. “To have a MLB player (Jesse Litsch) watch your entire game, then talk to all the boys, tells me the organization is doing the right things” said a proud Mel Swinton.
In the end everything from the weather, to the facilites, to the performance of the players on and off the field was first class. A big thank-you goes out to all of the parents who traveled with us to Florida and supported us. The Oakville Royals organization would also like to thank the staff at St. Petersburg Marriott Clearwater and the staff of the Walter Fuller complex and Al Lang stadium. Congratulations go out to all of the coaches, players, and staff who made it such a successful trip. We are already in the process of planning our 2012 Spring Florida Trip tentatively scheduled for March 7-16, 2012 back in St. Petersburg, FL.
