Picture: THOMAS MILES
THE Mount Gambier and District Baseball League has entered finals, with South Indians to host Federal tomorrow in the Division 1 preliminary final.
The winner of the clash will progress to the grand final series against Tigers next week, with everything on the line for the two sides.
Federal must bat first, as it finished third on the ladder, so the dilemma for South coach Bruce Morale is who will he send to the mound.
He has a number of pitching options and over the season they have all done an admiral job.
Will he choose Dean Hamilton, Ryan Placucci, Ben Nash or start himself?
Morale may pull a surprise and step up first as he has the ability to shut down batters, but Hamilton is the most likely starter.
He has good ball control and a number of different pitches to throw off opposition batters.
For Federal there is no doubt coach Alex Reppin will start on the mound as he is one of the best pitchers in the league and as this game is do or die, the Demons will go all out to win.
Reppin can find the edges of the plate and cause batters to struggle to find a hit.
The dilemma for Reppin, is who will replace him on the mound should things awry.
In the batting department South appears to have a little more depth and that will give it an edge.
Hamilton, Morale, Ryan Placucci, Steve Isacsson and Travis Lockwood have all hit well of late and are driving in runs.
Last week the Indians had 18 safe hits to drive in 11 runs against a poor performance from minor premier Tigers.
Federal had only five safe hits in its narrow 3-2 win against Central so a big task dawns tomorrow.
However, the Demons will not go down without a fight.
The batting ability of Wade Chant, Sam Shepherd, Reppin and Nathan Taylor will certainly see Federal in the race to play Tigers in the three-game grand final series next weekend.
With their season on the line, it is sure to be an entertaining match between the two teams.
The game starts at 4.30pm and will be followed by the league trophy presentations.
PRELIMINARY FINAL DRAWS
Division 1: South Indians v Federal, 4.30pm (Diamond 1).
Division 2: Millicent v Tigers, 2pm (Diamond 1).
Division 3: Central v Central Magpies, 12pm (Diamond 1).
Under 15: Millicent v Federal, 3pm (Diamond 3).
Under 13 Gold: South Indians v Central, 3pm (Diamond 5).
ROUND 17
Under 13 Blue: Tigers v Millicent, 1pm (Diamond 4); Central v Tigers Black, 3pm (Diamond 4).
