The Pirates beat the Parksville Royals 7-6 in a walk off to win the Zack Downey Memorial Tournament in Victoria (Mid-Island Pirates)

By Dan Marshall

Pirates Win

Mid-Island Pirates win unique Zack Downey tournament in Victoria

Sep 25, 2020 | 8:23 AM

NANAIMO — The one and only 2020 tournament for the Mid Island Pirates ended with a victory.

The Pirates won the Zack Downey Memorial Tournament with a 7-6 walk off win over the Parksville Royals on Sept. 20.

It was the first high level competitive baseball tournament on Vancouver Island since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

However Pirates coach Larson Bauck made sure the focus wasn’t just on baseball but also respecting the memory of Downey.

“Before the semi final against the Mariners, the team Zack played for, I reminded the players of why we were there. He was a really good kid who worked extremely hard.”

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Downey was 18 years old when he passed away in 2014 from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He pitched and played third base for the Mariners.

It almost poetic the way that Downey himself seemed a part of the last moments of the final game of the tournament.

“All the games were six innings. It was 6-6 in the sixth inning and the ironic part is that Zack Downey wore number six. Any time you get to hit and the last inning there’s always more emotion involved.

Watching his players get in some real games against true PBL competition was long overdue from Bauck’s perspective.

“It’s nice to see kids get excited about the game again because there’s been such a void over the past seven months. It was great to see that passion and kids can draw from that.”

There was no 2020 Premier Baseball League season because of COVID-19 and although the Zack Downey event was a success the Pirates don’t have plans to play against other PBL clubs, instead they’ll return to playing nine on nine games within their own team.

Bauck said he thought it was important to fill the players fall schedule with games intrasquad games.

“I scheduled 40 games. We’re playing six games a week and one practice to get the kids some looks.”

The fall games will serve as an opportunity for skill development with several graduating players moving on to U.S. colleges in January and the remaining Pirates players gearing up for the scheduled 2021 PBL season in April.

dan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On twitter: @danmarshall77