1sts vs Newport - WON 2-1
The 1sts have defeated Newport 2 - 1 at Newport on Sunday afternoon in a very tight and close affair.
Without Coach Brett Caulfield because of illness Brendan Ratcliffe was in charge and now is the second coach to have a 100% winning record for the season.
Daryn Cassidy started for against Newports number one starter Chris Bramwell who was presented with a pitching award from Baseball Victoria CEO Steve Walker for the season 2005/2006..
Cassidy went 6 innings giving up 4 hits, 2 strikeouts and no runs. An unearned run scored.
Brendan Ratcliffe was the winning pitcher. Coming in as relief pitcher and going 3 innings for 3 hits, 2 strikeouts and no runs.
Mark Doubleday was again outstanding in defence for MCC at shortstop with a couple of hard plays made in the gap..
Single hits went to Michael Dunn ( 2 ), Jordan Mitchelhill ( 2 ) & Daryn Cassidy.
Brendan Ratcliffe also had an outstanding game. Apart from being the winning pitcher he had 11 put outs at First and scored a run diving into home plate to beat the tag.
The game was on the line in the bottom of the nineth with Newport one out and runners at Second & Third. Brendan Ratcliffe on the mound decided to walk the batter to load the bases for the force situation.
The next next batter drove the ball straight back to Ratcliffe who threw home to catcher Stuart Cox. Cox stepped on the plate to force the runner coming in from Third and then threw the ball to First to get the batter in a double play.
Still on top - How long will it last?
Div 1 - Round 2, 15 Oct 2006
| |
Team |
P |
W |
L |
D |
Bye |
Pts |
For |
Ag |
Pct |
|
| 1 |
Melbourne |
2 |
2 |
0 |
|
|
4 |
11 |
3 |
786 |
| 2 |
Malvern |
2 |
2 |
0 |
|
|
4 |
24 |
9 |
727 |
| 3 |
Bonbeach |
2 |
2 |
0 |
|
|
4 |
14 |
6 |
700 |
| 4 |
Waverley |
2 |
2 |
0 |
|
|
4 |
9 |
7 |
563 |
| 5 |
Essendon |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
2 |
15 |
8 |
652 |
| 6 |
Sunshine |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
2 |
7 |
8 |
467 |
| 7 |
Newport |
2 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
0 |
5 |
7 |
417 |
| 8 |
Geelong |
2 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
0 |
6 |
11 |
353 |
| 9 |
Sandringham |
2 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
0 |
9 |
25 |
265 |
| 10 |
Blackburn |
2 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
0 |
6 |
22 |
214 |
2nds vs Newport - WON 9-0
Melbourne’s bats did the talking early in the game, getting off to a flier with 8 runs in the 2 nd inning. The rest of the game was dominated by pitching, from both teams, as the score would suggest.
Tim Frost pitched a solid 5 innings only giving up one hit and was relieved by Jon Wiggins, who blanked the Newport hitters for the remaining 2 innings. This was Jon’s first appearance in the seconds as a pitcher and he did not disappoint.
Chris Cassidy held up the hitting line up and got hits throughout the game and not only in the second inning when all the damage was done. Rob Hondo showed off some silky smooth skills at short stop and turned the game ending double play on his own.
Fielding was one of the teams highlights on the weekend with no errors. Melbourne refused to allow one run cross the plate for Newport, even when they had the opportunity, Brendan Mann showed off his arm by hosing down a runner from Left Field at home plate.
Another great team effort and the team continues to expand, as we welcomed Tristan Field to the seconds, who displayed potential to be a seconds player for the remainder of the year. The real challenge for this team will be Waverley next week.
3rds vs Newport - WON 4-3
Here's one for the books - the starting nine for the Melbourne thirds who took on Newport on Sunday was entirely senior players. In the ten or so years this beat reporter has been covering the thirds I sure can't remember that happening before....
After a scoreless first by both teams Melbourne jumped out to a 3 to 1 lead in the second. Newport got one more back in the fourth but it wasn't until the seventh and final inning that things got really interesting. Newport tied it up with two out in the bottom of the last on a wild throw by Julian Davis. In a villain to hero performance Julian responded to his error by leading off the bottom half with his second triple of the day before scoring the winning run on a ball that got away from the Newport catcher. Shaun Mead turned in another gutsy performance firing 127 pitches in a complete game effort which featured a casual ten strike-outs.
4ths vs Newport - WON 9-1
No match report submitted
Can someone from the 4ths please send a match report to demonsbc@yahoo.com each week. Doesn't matter who, spectator, player, scorer, anyone.
Under 18 State vs Essendon - Drew 2-2
Not submitted.
Under 16 State vs Essendon - Lost 10-4
The opening game of the 2006 season was going to be a tough game against a powerful Essendon team, which I believe will finish in the top 3 at the end of this season.
Our boys started off well scoring in the 1st and 2nd digs, through some good hitting from both Justin Gourlay and Tristan Field, going out to a 2-0 lead, only to see the Essendon line-up fight back with a few deep shots to the outfield, combined with a few fundamental errors through lapse of concentration.
After 4 complete innings at 10:35 the score was 5-4 Essendon's way, but additional errors did not help our cause and we eventually lost 10-4.
I was pretty happy with our perfromance, as we have 5 boys who are still 13 and to come up against boys who are 14 and 15 and play the way we did today, was a credit to their individual characters.
Highlights of the game was the combined teams hitting and pitching by Campbell Wiggins and Alex Hondo, who both pitched well for the first time over the full senior distance, with promising signs for the season ahead.
Melbourne 4 lost to Essendon 10
Safe Hits:-
Tristan Field (2 Singles)
Justin Goulay (1 Single)
Alex Hondo (1 Single)
Campbell Wiggins (1 Single)
Under 14 Round Robin
The Under 14's METRO travelled to Werribee for the season opener round robin with 3 games to be played against Cheltenham, Waverley and Williamstown.
The first game against Cheltenham was a good opener with Stephen Joyce pitching to Patrick Politis. The team did well in the field but many errors let some runs in for Cheltenham. Our batting started out tentative with only 3 hits for the game, 2 to Brandon Hough and 1 to Chris Vapp. 2 highlights being Stephen Joyce taking a great catch off the mound and Jesse Rintoul taking a screamer out at Right Field to close out the 2nd dig. Cheltenham won 11:3
The second game was expected to be the biggest challenge with Brandon Hough pitching to a strong Waverley side and Stephen Joyce catching. The highlights being the tight pitching from Brandon in the 1st and 3rd digs, a great catch in Left Field to newcomer Matt Abbott and some improved fielding from all players to contain the Waverley team. Mitchell Kelly also continued his great skills as a 1st baseman while Jesse Rintoul had to field many hits out to Right Field and did a great job in his first day out being involved in many outs.
Patrick Politis smacked 2 great hits to outfield and Mitchell Kelly, Chris Vapp and Courtney Kapernick each scored 1 hit. Waverley taking the honors 12:4
It was the third game against Williamstown where the young Demons started to settle in and work like a team, with 9 players getting hits: 3 hits each to Mitchell Kelly and Brandon Hough. Hits were also well placed by Adam Hayman, Chris Vapp, Patrick Politis, Stephen Joyce, Sebastian Dunbar, Courtney Kapernick and Matt Abbott. Courtney fielded in 1st proving an asset and a good back up to Mitchell.
The pitching for this game was led by Patrick Politis and supported by Adam Hayman each pitching well and holding the opposition to only 3 runs. Melbourne winning 14:3.
Under 12 Round Robin
Game 1 - Lost to Port Melbourne 16-0 (they used a state pitcher for the whole game!)
Game 2 - Lost to Waverley A Metro 10-4 (Pretty good as this was Waverley's second best team - some of the kids were as big as me!)
Game 3 - Won against UFTG 17-6 (a great result even if it was not our best game)
Some of the highlights included:
Jack's pitching against Waverley - a lot of their big hitters were taking a step back,
Ted hit a HR and a ground rule double
Well done all!
Click on the picture for a larger view
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