IT was a Concordes versus Warriors weekend at Blue Lake Sports Park, with bragging rights up for grabs early on in the Mount Gambier softball season.
Concordes White went into the game undefeated thanks to some red-hot form with the bat and looked to continue that against the ever-consistent pitching of Leyna Bruggemann.
The game started evenly, with Concordes jumping out of the blocks to score three runs in the first innings thanks to an RBI single to Billie Jones and some aggressive base running.
Warriors Blue came back with two runs after Daena Wombwell sent one to left field and was scored from an Angela Queale double and a Bruggeman single.
With two out in the second innings Jo Hopgood got on with a double to shallow centre field and was scored from a double by Alli Kreplins, who in turn made it home on an RBI single to Elysha Collins.
Concordes then got Warriors three up, three down thanks to a double play by the alert Concordes infield.
Concordes had found the pace of the pitching by that point and piled on seven runs in the third innings, highlighted by a triple to Maddie Bowd which scored two.
Warriors hung in and scored two runs in the third thanks to a single smoked up the middle by Mel Chuck and a second safe hit for the day by the in-form Kelly Doyle.
However, Concordes continued on their way, with Hopgood picking up her second double of the game and scoring for the fifth time in the match thanks to a huge triple from Collins that looked like it might clear the fence off the bat.
Linda Dodds and Bowd also picked up their second hits of the day to round out the scoring at 17-4 in another convincing performance for Concordes White.
Meanwhile, Concordes United and Warriors White started off with two scoreless innings, thanks to some brilliant fielding by Warriors’ Sarah Polderman, who showed off her superb arm with some great plays to first from deep short stop.
However, Concordes were not to be outdone, with Codie Jackway and Leonie McCallum also making some difficult outs from the left side of the diamond.
Warriors broke the deadlock first, with a safe hit to Justine Koop converted by an RBI single to Taylor Wilsmore.
Concordes replied immediately with a run, as Tammie Kovaleff scored after a solid hit to the outfield by Dana Jones was too much to handle in the swirly conditions.
It was the fifth innings that proved decisive for Concordes, as they strung together some hits, with a single to Hannah Taylor batted in by McCallum, before Dana Jones tripled to clear the loaded bases and put three runs on the board with one hit.
Concordes scored six in the fifth innings and a further six in the sixth to blow out the score in what was otherwise a highly-competitive game.
Warriors showed off some of their emerging superstars in Maddy and Caitlin Bignell, who both showed they are players to watch in the future.
For Concordes it was another terrific game for Jones, who pitched consistently and continued on her form with the bat.
