"We saw a lot of the competition (over the summer)," said Royals head coach Dave MacIsaac. "We will stack up all right with them.
"We certainly don't expect to blow anybody out, but we certainly don't expect to get blown out. Teams that usually make it this far are pretty solid."
Play begins Thursday and continues through the weekend, with the championship game Sunday at 1 p.m. All games will be played at Queen Elizabeth Park's Gordie Arsenault Field and Very Important Volunteer (VIV) Field. The Summerside Prodigy Sports Chevys are the host team and P.E.I. champions.
Youngest team
MacIsaac says the Royals, with seven first-year peewee players, will be the youngest team in the eight-team tournament. But a lot of the players are familiar with winning.
"The core group I have had won the last two (provincial) mosquito titles, and they have graduated up to peewee now," explained MacIsaac. "We've had some pleasant surprises this year.
"We didn't think we'd be a contender this year, because over the half the team is first-year players. But we did manage to make it to the final against Summerside, and we were in a little tough.
"We saw a lot of the competition (over the summer). We will stack up all right with them. We certainly don't expect to blow anybody out, but we certainly don't expect to get blown out. Teams that usually make it this far are pretty solid." - Charlottetown Royals head coach Dave MacIsaac
"Summerside, in my opinion, is probably the best team in the Maritimes, and they'll have a good shot at it as well."
Good start important
MacIsaac said, with teams playing just three-round-robin games, there is not a lot of room for error.
"The first team we are playing, Saint John, N.B., we've played them twice and lost to them by one run both times," said MacIsaac. "Then we have Yarmouth up next, which is kind of a wild card.
"With them being so far away, they don't go to tournaments that most of the other teams in the Maritimes go in. From what I understand they have a strong team. They went to the (Nova Scotia) final against Halifax, which is a strong team. . .
"Then St. John's, N.L., will be our last (round-robin) game. We actually played probably the core group of that team last year in mosquito."
The tournament website is www.baseball.ca/peeweeatlantic.
jpsports@journalpioneer.com
