ROUND 1
Mens 1 sts – beat Waverley 5-3
Mens 2 nds – lost to Waverley 8-1
Mens 3 rds – lost to Waverley 13-0
Mens 4ths – beat Waverley 13-8
Hits: Ben Hart 2, Chao, Tim Donald, Jake O'Reilly, Rhett Mitchelhill, Andrew Speed, Jamie Hough 1 each.
With 4 more Junior players making their senior debut it was a vastly different Melbourne 4ths side that defeated Waverly in our season opener. Having been involved in 3rds/4ths baseball for 20 years (yes this is my 20th season with Melbourne) I can't recall a first up win to commence the season. The influx of new Junior players once again created excitement and vigour not seen for many years and I suspect also influenced some of the senior players to put in inspired performances. It was fitting that three of our 14 year olds all registered their first hit in senior baseball with Ben Hart leading the way with two hits and doing a great job at 2nd, 3rd and Shortstop. Rhett Mitchelhill also chimed in with a double to left field and Jamie Hough singled to right. Even our usual band of spectators (the scorer and his dog) swelled to unprecedented numbers, which I am sure helped the team immensely. I must also congratulate the Junior coaching staff in providing ready made players to slot into the senior ranks. The boys playing their first game all had great skills and look quite at home in the batters box which augers well for the coming seasons. I know it is a bit early in the season to get carried away but this result is also shows the value of having a quality starting Pitcher (Andrew Speed) who kept a young Waverly batting line-up to 2 runs. We look forward to tackling Sandringham at home next week.
ROUND 2
Mens 1 sts – beat Sandringham 5-1
Mens 2 nds – beat Sandringham 12-5
Mens 3 rds – lost to Sandringham 12-6
Mens 4ths – beat Sandringham 11-9
Hits: Tim Donald, Tom Andronas 2, Chao, Rhett Mitchelhill, Roman Babitski, Andrew Speed, Jake O'Reilly, Peter Moore, James Arthur 1.
Not as polished as our previous effort with a few defensive errors creeping into our game. Another excellent performance by Andrew Speed on the mound and by Tim Donald with 3 RBI's to round out a solid game at first base. I must say however it has been many years since the 4th's have started the season with back to back wins which if you also take into account the 3 wins from our last 4 games last season we have won 5 out of our last 6 games. Our senior players led the way this week with our Juniors' a little flat after their first game last week. A big welcome to Josh Bevis who played his first Senior game and to James Arthur registering his first hit in Senior baseball. We take on Upwey at Upwey this week which will be a tough challenge. |
Under 16 – lost to Werribee 8-0
A sluggish, error laden infield performance and lack of hitting, especially with runners on base, handed a disappointingly easy win to Werribee in the first match of the season. Pitchers Jonathan Wiggins and Jordan Mitchellhill struggled manfully against a tight strike zone and without enough support from the infield. There was good contact made with the ball by some hitters but overall too many strikes were watched over. We'll be looking for a bit more aggression in the box next week I suspect!
Highlights - the performance of Jaimie Hough at right field with the sides' only two hits and a sensational 9 - 5 to cut down a Werribee runner attempting to go from first to third by 5 metres despite on a seemingly perfectly executed "hit and run".
- a sharp pickoff at first - Jordan to Josh Bevis - to catch out a Werribee runner in a first and third situation.
Under 12 Round Robin
The U12's played in the Round Robin series at Cheltenham where they played 3 matches in perfect Baseball conditions. The first match against Newport Rams was won by Newport however the boys were competitive in all areas. The second match was tough against an experienced Cheltenham side who tested the Melbourne skills and ran out victors. Credit to the boys for standing up to the challenge and remaining competitive for the second half of the game. The third match against Port Melbourne was a hard fought battle and the Demons came out on top with their first win on the board. Welcome to the new boys Patrick Politis, Edward Pike, Ravi Vithal, Michael Zukier and Mitchell Thomas who supported the more experienced players Brandon Hough, Jai Batten, Jack Scheffer, Chris Vapp and Alex Robinson in this season opener.
Safe hits to Jai – 2; Ravi, Brandon, Jack, Michael, Edward and Patrick P - 1 each.
Ladies – beat Waverley 24-9
Masters – Melbourne beat Bonbeach 12-9
The Masters machine travelled out to Altona on a cold spring night to commence our 6th season. I think many of us had been baskiing the glory of past victories or at least had been "grazing" in a good paddock over winter because we made a very sluggish start to the game. With "Meady", "Clappy" and "Smiles" sharing the pitching duties we managed to convert many routine outs into a comedy of errors which, had we not managed to string together hits in most inning, we would have certainly been in trouble. As it turned out we had to come from behind setting up the ever reliable "Smiles" to shutdown the Bonbeach hitters in the nail-biting last innings. We of course never had any doubts we would get across the line and should we eventually get to play our second game some time soon, should be much better for the hit-out. With something like 16 games plus finals this year the Masters competition is alive and well with 14 teams competing this year. A big welcome to our debutante Gavin Mann who batted in the winning runs. |
