CONCORDES WHITE 6 d WANDERERS 4
AN entertaining clash between Concordes White and Wanderers opened Round 17 of Mount Gambier Softball on Saturday.
After a tight battle, Concordes held on for a 6-4 win despite a quick start from its rival.
Wanderers held Concordes to no score in the opening innings, before taking advantage of some early errors in the field to score three runs of its own and take the lead.
Concordes batters settled in the second dig and took every opportunity in the batting box.
That included safe hits to Maddie Sutherland and Kerry Walker to score four runs and put Concordes back in the lead.
Karly Pearson took control on the mound for Concordes and held Wanderers scoreless for the next three innings with the backing of her field.
A highlight during this time was a ripping catch at second base by Sarah Thomson.
Fiona Finch also had a good catch to left field and a throw to first for a double play in the third dig.
The remaining innings were tight as Concordes scored one in the fourth and one in the fifth to leave it in Wanderers’ hands to win the game.
Kim Key started with a fly to left field that was safely caught by Di Patzel, while Charli Kaigg got on base and Edie Jones was caught out on a fly.
Finch came up to bat and had a safe hit to centre field to score Kaigg, but Abbie Lovekin was caught by the reliable hands of Sarah Thomson to end the game and hand Concordes the points.
Safe hits – Concordes: M. Sutherland, K. Walker 2, K. Altschwager, K. Cook, D. Patzel 1; Wanderers: E. Jones 2, F. Finch, C. Kaigg 1.
WARRIORS 14 d DEMONS 13
In a thriller of a match Warriors chalked up narrow win over league ladder leader Demons.
Sarah Polderman had the pitching duties for Warriors on the day after a last-minute unavailability from Erin Chaplin.
Polderman held her own though and striked out four of the Demons’ hot bats.
However, they still had good contact with a hit each to Em Hart, Steph Chant and a good double to Cody Manning up until the fateful fourth dig.
Prior to that, Polderman had chopped two singles and added another in the fourth, with Clare Chaplin and Skylea McLean showing their strength and speed with singles in the third.
Melissa Chuck showed why she has been Warriors’ best for so long with three smoked hits including a huge triple to right field.
She led from the front with her on-field talk and aggressive base running, which was also shown by Linda Dodds, McLean and Chaplin.
Warriors put on nine runs in the fourth inning in an impressive display against Manning on the mound, who stepped in to replace Billy Jones.
Bec White especially enjoyed the change with two hits.
Demons dug deep in the bottom of the last.
After being hit by a pitch the inning before, Disselbach paid Manning back by catching a fly for the first out, before making a 4-3 for a steadying second out off the bat of Ebony Smith.
With Demons at two out, Warriors looked to be in for a comprehensive victory.
However, the ladder leader did not stand down without a fight.
Demons made the most of a tiring Polderman and the runs kept coming despite best efforts from Arrabelle Searle and White in the infield.
Manning drove another long ball and took an extra base as the ball was forced l out of the glove in a tag play at second.
Unknown to most on the diamond, Warriors had an insurmountable lead, but when Smith slid over the plate for Demons’ 10th run of the innings they celebrated what they believed to be the winning run.
However, in a turn of luck for Warriors then run rule was invoked and they held on for a 14-13 run victory.
