Rest paid off for the Angels against the Royals on July 25 at 4-H field.

The Angels were coming off a four-day hiatus while the Royals were still recovering from a comeback victory the night before against the Bulls.

Despite the lack of rest, the Royals were anything but lethargic in the second game of the Douglas County Amateur Baseball Assn.’s 10-U National League postseason tournament. But the Royals came up with too few runs too late as the Angels defeated them, 21-13.

Royals pitcher Sam Dowell throws a warm-up pitch during a Douglas County Amateur Baseball Assn. 10-U tournament game against the Angels on June 27 at 4-H Field.

The game started off as a battle, tied 2-2 after the first inning. The Angels took charge with a seven-run second inning fueled by a series of base hits. The Royals quieted the Angels bats in the next inning and answered back in the fourth inning, which Ryan Stagg started with a leadoff double. Stagg later scored after a Trevor Groundwater double got through the Angels’ infield, and the Royals scored five runs in the inning.

Both teams’ coaches said they didn’t bring their best efforts on the defensive side of the ball.

“We didn’t play normal D today, Angels coach David Eddy said.

“Our defense wasn’t as sharp as it should have been,” Royals head coach Bud Stagg said.

It was a physical game, but Stagg said his players’ pride was hurt more than their bodies.

Eddy said being able to handle the stress of the season is important to his players’ success.

“We really emphasize being tough Angels with the team,” Eddy said. “It may seem like an oxymoron, but they seem to buy into it.”

Playing frequent games also affected the Royal’s depth of pitching.

Stagg said that if the team had more pitching it would have helped its chances, but he wanted to save some of his pitchers for the DCABA postseason tournament.

Stagg was impressed with the way his players hit.

“When the score is 21-13 you can really tell it was a slugfest,” Stagg said. “We really battled back after we were down by seven.”

In their third meeting, Eddy said the match up with the Royals was more competitive because of the teams’ familiarity.

“You know the kids on the other team by now and can call a lot of them by name and tell them when they made a good play,” Eddy said.

The Royals lost the next game in the tournament to the Bulls, a team they had defeated in the first game of the tournament. The Angels defeated the Saints on Thursday to advance to the championship game tonight against the winner of yesterday’s game between the Bulls and Saints.