ROUND THIRTEEN

DIVISION ONE

At Don Klaebe Field Sat 13.01.24

WON 8-7     v Goodwood

Terrific win this, it all came down to the last hit of the day and we walked it off.  The game meandered along for a few innings, and we were behind 3-1 until Troy Nicholson livened things up a bit with a huge two run homer to equal the score, and he did the trick again in the seventh, along with Joel Chapman who also powered one over and we were sitting pretty at 7-5, but after Muggsy went down with an ankle and Troy was caught on the fence, they got a couple to go into the last all square.  Drew held them scoreless and it was up to the bats, and they didn't let us down.  Taheny’s hit into right field was just what we needed and Wade came thundering home for the win.  Earlier, AJ was stoic on the mound for five digs, and Troy chimed in with a couple, and the win was even more meritorious as we were missing key personel with injury.  Toughed it out.  Hits  :  Troy Nicholson (2HR), Joel Chapman (HR) 2. Drew Janssen, Wade Moore, Nick Kuhn, Breandan Taheny, Greg Bravo 1.

DIVISION TWO At Don Klaebe Field Sat 13.01.24     

WON 3-2     v Goodwood

Queer old game - we didn't trouble the scorers until the last.  Muggsy turned back the clock in the third with an athletic display at second, but apart from strong pitching from Declan ther was not a lot of action.  We went into the last down two, so it was a last ditch effort.  Papps hit, Taheny hit, Joel managed an RBI, a super bunt from AChap scored another, Nathan got on with an error, and Kuhna calmly batted in the win.  Joel closed after Declan's good work.  Hits  :  Nick Kuhn, Joe Papos, Breandan Taheny 2, Ryan Muggleton, David Lodge, Andrew Chapman, Joel Chapman 1.

DIVISION THREE At Don Klaebe Field Sat 13.01.24     

Lost 4-8     v Goodwood

Really nice to see Tyson Hancock back in the middle, and his first dig was great,  but errors and dropped chances let him down in the second and they made the most of it.  We only managed five hits, but it was nice to see both Damian Wall and Kossy hit good doubles.  It was only the one innings that cost us and the hits were  :  Aldo McCormack 2, Luke Taylor, Kosuke Ikeda, Damian Wall 1.

DIVISION SIX Away v Nth District     

WON 4-1

Reward for hard work and persistance - a sterling performance particularly from the Birthday Boy Shane Brown with his ten strikeouts whilst going the distance and his three hits.  A very good, even effort by all team players and it is pleasing to be able to report that Flash and Doggy each had three hits, Andrew Eime and Gomez two apiece, and the win was against one of the top teams in this division.

DIIVISION SEVEN (Red)

Also played away out at Northern Districts and lowered their colours to the tune of 3-13.

DIVISION SEVEN (Blue) Away v Adelaide.     Lost 1-12

Not the best of results, although Behr can hold his head up with a good showing from the hill, but was once again not backed up.  Josh closed in ok fashion but where were the batters?  Hits  : Cam, Dorny, Behr and Josh.  So that's Adelaide done and dusted - no more games against them.

WOMEN'S LEAGUE

DIVISION ONE At Don Klaebe Field Sun 14.01.24     

Lost 4-13     v Sturt

It's always hard to go into a game without your two main pitchers due to unforseen circumstances, but you just have to suck it up and get on with things.  Smack stood in and did her darndest, but we fell behind early, and leaked runs.  Man of the match Ella Forrester tried hard and threw the final four digs only giving up three runs, while we managed four of our own with Lou, Alyssa and Indie contributing. We will get these glitches out of the way and power on towards finals.  Hits  :  Louise Pelle, Indie O'HazyZshorne 2, Alyssa Lasscock, Kate Geldof 1.

DIVISION TWO At Don Klaebe Field Fri 13.01.24 Lost 11-12     v Sth Districts

Girls were a bit stiff here - started well and got in front but were reeled in and were good enough to put their noses in front again, but succumbed and found themselves needing five to win in the last.  Got four - a case of could have, should have, didn't.  Can't put any blame on the two pitchers - Alice (seven strikeouts) and Indie (two).  Hits  :  Alice Brown, Molly Brown 2, Leah Turner 1.

GODANATS!!!

ROUND TWELVE

The ladies played their first game after the break at the Adelaide Angels' home ground and after a bit of a struggle, managed to steal a draw 9-9.  Not what the girls were looking for but one point is better than none.  We played with just the bare nine and the two coaches, but the opposition bench was packed to the hilt - in fact we counted nineteen at one stage and the screeching and noise was super annoying, at least to the onlookers, but the professionalism of our team showed through and they just cast it aside.  We let ourselves down a bit in the first with no score, but the signs were ominous, and they came to fruition in the second when we got on top of their starting pitcher to the tune of five runs.  Hits to Leah, Molly, Catie (RBI) and Amara proved we were holding no fears towards the Angels and then Lou and Smack sent in a few more runs.  We then kept them to two and finished them off with a fine double play.  They were not done however, and with a few errors creeping in, it took us five outs in the next as they kept plugging away at our lead.  We, in fact fell a couple short towards the end and were aided by pitching changes as we were able to sneak ahead again, but were closed down for the draw.  Great effort girls, and we will build when injuries and holidays see us at full strength again.  Amara and Darna shared the pitching duties and the hits were  :  Louise Pelle 2, Amara Quinn, Sarah McMahon, Darna BoersVeen, Leah Turner, Catie Berry 1.

ROUND ELEVEN

Twilight away v Sturt 19.12.23     

WON 1-0

Final game for the year ahead of the Christmas break, and it was worth battling the cross-town Christmas peak hour traffic to watch an intense battle between two of the top sides in the competition go head to head.  We came away victors in an epic contest, which left us in equal second position and in a good place to kick on in the new year.  It must be said that it was largely the Drew Janssen show, as he pitched the entire seven inning game, finishing with seventeen strikeouts with four ground ball outs.  The powerful Sturt batters managed a poultry two hits against him, and no runner advanced past second base, and he walked no batter. Still - enough about Drew.  We scored the game's only run in the first when Drew (there is that man again) singled and Cesar’s  bunt advanced him to second.  Troy hit into a double play, and the Sturt boys got caught napping when Drew powered home from second.  Sturt never challenged, and we thought we were going to score on several occasions with a few of the boys caught on the fence in a total team performance.  Hits  :  Drew Janssen, Adenson Verastegui (AJ), Nathan Nicholson, Greg Bravo 1.