South 13 d Central 7
SOUTH Indians claimed its 12th win for the season when it took on Central in Round 19 of the Mount Gambier and District Baseball League’s Division 1 competition.
Central coach Nathan Meinck started on the mound for the match, which is not something seen often, as he started the game by striking out Jesse Balshaw.
South’s Damien O’Dine and Bruce Morale then stepped up and hit singles to left-field, while Ben Morale hit into foul territory and was caught out.
Dean Hamilton hit deep to centre-field which scored both O’Dine and Bruce Morale, but he was left stranded himself when Steve Isaacson struck out.
This saw South in good stead after their opening dig.
The first batter for Central was Kyall McClean who ground out, while Meinck reached first on a pitcher error, before advancing on another error and scoring the first run on a fielding mistake.
In the second inning, South’s Bruce Morale picked up three RBI’s from a double base hit which scored Balshaw, O’Dine and Alex Lewis.
In the third Hamilton scored a run after his double base hit, advancing on an error by third base and forcing McClean to error on his throw.
With South in the lead, Central took advantage of a wild throw from the Indians in the fifth inning to score two runs.
After getting himself onto second, Lachie Tilley scored on McCleans hit to add another run to Central’s tally.
South picked up just one run in the fifth, which came from Travis Lockwood, while Morale scored in the sixth to give the side eight.
A pitching change in the seventh dig from Central saw South score five runs in succession.
Tilley took some time to settle in on the mound and South took advantage of the free walks to base, hitting big and sealing the deal for the side.
Central scored its last run in the ninth, but it was not enough and South walked away with the win.
Tigers 10 d Federal 0
FEDERAL fielded a young side on the diamond when it took on Tigers on the weekend, going down to the more experienced team.
Facing the pitching of Tigers’ Brodie Foster, Federal was unable to hit the scoreboard, as he pitched to 24 batters and threw 14 strike outs for the match.
Tigers was also on fire with the bat, only succumbing to four strike outs, while scoring its 10 runs from nine hits.
This solid team effort with the bat saw many Tigers making good use of their time at the diamond.
However, the stand out player for the Tigers team was Foster, with his near-perfect pitching, while he also picked up three safe hits and three RBI’s.
Tigers have set themselves up at the right end of the season and are going to be the team to beat going into finals.
Jesse Foster has turned this team around and it is a credit to him.
Federal took to the diamond with a positive attitude, even though it knew it was going to be a difficult game.
With several of its key players out of the squad, a position switch saw Nathan Taylor pitch, while coach Alex Reppin caught.
Jordan Johnston made his Division 1 debut and Kane McMillan had his first pitching stint for the top level in the sixth innings.
McMillan was also handy at shortstop, playing his part in five outs.
However, in the end the Tigers side was too strong and the mercy rule came into play at the top of the seventh innings.
