DIVISION 1 baseball dished out two one-sided games on the weekend, with Friday night’s fixture an easy victory for South Indians over Federals.
Both sides had come off big loses the previous week, with South eager to bounce back, which showed with early runs.
Federals failed to get across the plate early to apply any scoreboard pressure and when South scored three more runs in the second innings, thanks to some Jesse Balshaw brilliance, the game was getting away.
Tarkyn Morale kick started the Indians again with his second shot of the night and it was again some Balshaw magic that helped him across the plate and put the score at 8-0.
Deegan Habner and Morale both landed themselves another hit and sat at the corners for Balshaw to empty the bases and put his name on his third hit for the night, to remind the league he is in career-best form.
Federals tried but they could not manage to get that elusive runner across the plate and the final score saw a big 10-0 win to South.
Saturday afternoon shaped up as what would be a belter, but it was not to be.
However, it ended up being the Dylan Chuck show, as he led from the front both on the hill and with the bat.
Tigers looked disjointed, flat and at times defeated mentally.
Coach Karl Ransom took the job on the hill and it was clear Centrals liked it, knocking in four runs early to give themselves some breathing room.
Chuck, Gull, Cutting and Chant all continued to do damage with the bat and after a couple of errors, Tigers were staring down the barrel of what would be another defeat at the hands of Centrals.
Chuck continued to make a statement on the hill and when he finished the fifth innings with his eighth strike out, he was getting closer to a baseball feat often dreamed of, with a no-hitter looking likely.
Tigers again went to bat and failed to make any noise and Chuck was again closer to that no-hitter milestone.
As Tigers got going into the seventh they still had not had a hit.
Centrals added more pain in the bottom of the innings to make the scoreboard a demoralising 10-0, but now it was Chuck’s moment to savour.
Three batters up and three outs saw him finish the game with a career-best no-hitter against last years champions to stamp a huge message that Centrals are back with a vengeance and the team to beat in 2022.
Results
Division 1: South 10 d Federals 0. Safe hits – South: J. Balshaw 3, T. Morale 2, D. Habner 2, B. Horrigan, R. Parsons, T. Lockwood 1; Federals: A. Person 2, M. Nicholls 1, D. Searcy 1.
Centrals 10 d Tigers 0. Safe hits – Centrals: D. Chuck 3, D. Gull 2, A. Ridding 2, M. Cutting 2, N. Meinck, 2, K. Chant 1, J. Chuck 1; Tigers – none.
Division 2: South 14 d Tigers 4. Safe hits – Tigers: R. Rolph 1, D. Pitkin 1; South: D. Habner 3, D. Odine 2, R. Parsons 2, B. Morale 1, B. Whitwell 1, W. ChAnt 1, B. Horrigan 1.
Millicent 15 d Centrals 5. Safe hits – Centrals: P. Oheir 2, C. Muller 1, B. Lynagh 1, B. Sturges 1; Millicent: D. Pink 3, A. Mutton 2, C. Harris 2, E. Mutton 1, E. Cushion 1.
Division 3: South 11 d Tigers 10. Safe hits – Tigers: N. Tana 3, T. Elletson 3, Nanu 2, M. Thompson 1; South: S. Page 2, S. Lewis 2, B. Kroon, J. Parker 1, D. Cole 1.
Central 8 d Centrals Magpies 1. Safe hits – Centrals: D. Cutting, S. Kuhl, B. Green, D. Chant, D. Chuck, C. TziouTziouklaris 2, N. Aston, A. Vonstanke, A. Ridding 1;
Central Magpies: A. Crouch, A. Ruwoldt, A. West, B. Stephenson, P. Klassens 1.
Under 18s: Federals 22 d South 4. Safe hits – Federals: E. Mutton 3, E. Mobley 3, A. McCraken 2, D. Searcy 2, B. Mcadams 2, J. Telford 1, C. Williams 1; South: C. McDonald 1.
Junior League: South 14 d Tigers 8. Safe hits – Tigers: W. Merchant 1, J. Dixon 1; South: R. Meek 2, L. Ratcliffe 2, P. Cole 2, A. Page 1, N. Habner 1.
Centrals 9 d Tigers 4. Safe hits – Tigers: J. Hillstone 1, J. Dixon 1, H. Elletson 1; Centrals: S. Ruwoldt, J. Walkom, E. Dedeland.
Under 13s: Centrals 14 d South 2. Safe hits – Centrals: A. Hichton 3, J. Odgers 3, J. Lynagh 2, R. Hopgood, I. Brierley 1; South: D. Allen 2, C. Morgan 1, H. Farmillio 1.
Tigers 13 d Federals 5: Safe hits – Tigers: J. Johnson 2, S. Marcus 1, F. Taar 1, D. Bradley 1, T. Dumigan 1, J. DeKonig 1, H. Thompson 1; Federals: O. Bradley 2, L. Vincent, M. Pearce, A. Mutton 1.
