Top Spot It may be early days yet but recent history hasn’t provided many chances to point out that the club is sitting on top of the Victorian baseball universe so here we go. After an absolutely jam-packed schedule of rain-outs, make-ups and mid-weeks the first are sitting clear after the first eleven games of the 2004/2005 season. With something like sixteen games remaining it’s hardly worth getting carried away but hey, how nice does that Melbourne look in the top left-hand corner. Keep up the good work lads!   GP W L D RUNS F RUNS A % PTS Melbourne 11 9 2   69 33 0.676 18 Essendon 11 7 3 1 67 35 0.657 15 Malvern 9 7 2   71 35 0.670 14 Blackburn 10 6 3 1 51 31 0.622 13 Newport 9 6 3   50 32 0.610 12 Waverley 11 4 6 1 60 53 0.531 9 Upwey 11 4 6 1 35 42 0.455 9 Geelong 10 3 7   24 46 0.343 6 Sandringham 11 3 8   29 74 0.282 6 Chelterham 11 1 10   21 96 0.179 2 No Hitter Avid Batchat fans (yes both of you) will remember a few weeks back when we told of Ben Smith’s phenomenal outing against Upwey where he came devastatingly close to achieving the rare pitching feat of throwing a no hitter. Well it has only just been brought to our attention that at around the same time Ben was Tiger hunting, Katrina has managed to go the step further in the ladies and achieve the elusive no hitter. It’s just lucky this publication is called Batchat and not Pitchchat otherwise not recognising this accomplishment earlier would be pretty embarrassing. Well done Katrina it’s a fantastic achievement.   Next Social Event DECEMBER 18 th - Hawaiian Cocktail Night Batchat Editor: Andrew Williams Suggestions and contributions to as.williams@telstra.com 04/05 Number 6   This Week Saturday, November 27 th Ladies at Doncaster Sunday, November 28 th Senior Men versus Geelong 1 sts & 2 nds at Geelong 3 rds & 4 ths at Surrey Park U18 at Upwey U16 have a bye U14 Demons at Geelong U14 Red Sox host Sunshine U12 host Springvale Monday, November 29 th Masters at Williamstown Next Week Thursday, December 2 nd Mens 1 sts play Cheltenham at Altona (Early) Saturday, December 4 th Ladies host Fitzroy Sunday, December 5 th Senior Men versus Waverley 1 sts & 2 nds at Waverley 3 rds & 4 ths at Surrey Park U18 host Cheltenham U16 at Geelong U14 Demons host Waverley U14 Red Sox at Doncaster U12 at Waverley Monday, December 6 th Masters at Greenslime (Greensborough) Thursday, December 9 th Mens 1 sts play Newport at Altona (Early)       Results Mens 1 sts 18/11/04 – beat Sandringham 12-0 This was supposed to be a timed two-hour game but went the full nine innings anyway. What made this all the more unusual was that this was no pitchers duel, as Melbourne smashed home twelve unanswered runs. Ben Smith produced eight super innings and for the second time in recent memory he carried a no-hitter deep into the game. Brett Caulfield was back behind the plate showing no ill effects of his recent injury as he teamed up with his battery partner to drive home three runs apiece. As usual the game saw some outstanding defensive play by Stuart Cox at shortstop and Jay Willis at third, the latter driving in a pair to boot. Brendan Ratcliffe climbed the hill for a scoreless ninth – but more on him later. 20/11/04 – beat Cheltenham 11-1 Almost a full two days after pitching a scoreless ninth against Sandringham, Brendan Ratcliffe took the ball in a make-up game against Cheltenham. Brendan was showing the effects of limited rest, as he was only able to produce six near shutout innings before being relieved by Junior (Chris) Cassidy. Junior was nasty as he didn’t give up a single run. But this wasn’t a game to talk about pitching as the Melbourne offence was busy doing a demolition job on the Cheltenham team. Michael Dunn went three for four including two doubles, while Jay Willis and Ben Smith both drove in two runs each. Batchat favourite Ian Semple hit a triple to drive in a run – it’s about time he actually earned a mention. All in all Melbourne were just too strong on the day for the struggling Cheltenham side. 21/11/04 – beat Malvern 9-7 This top of the table clash saw Melbourne’s Daryn Cassidy square off against Malvern’s Ross Mclean. The Melbourne offence led by Jay Willis (3 hits, RBI), Michael Dunn (2 hits, 2RBI) and Ben Smith (3RBI) put the Demons ahead early with a four run first. That was all the start Daryn needed as he held the lead through six innings. Having only thrown seven innings in the last three days coach Brett Caulfield then made the logical move of bringing Brendan Ratcliffe in to pitch. Still angry about being born left-handed and thus unable to play third base, Brendan gutted out the final three digs thus ensuring a Melbourne win for top spot on the VBA ladder. Mens 2 nds – beat Malvern 6-2 Behind strong starting pitching by Tim Frost, the seconds put in a great all round team performance. Combining some outstanding defensive plays (including Ben Telford putting his life on the line with a great out at home plate) with good execution on offence Malvern never had a sniff. Tim Frost did some damage with the bat also as his single and double made use of the right field curse beautifully. Other hitters on the day were Brendan Mann (2), Ben Wenke (RBI), Andrew Mann (RBI), Mat May, Matt Houlden. John Bell closed out a very good performance by the rising seconds. Mens 3 rds – lost to Malvern 10-4 Mens 4 ths 14/11/04 – beat Newport 8-7 This game was an absolute nail biter that in years gone by would have almost certainly seen the fourths fall just short. To the credit of the 04/05 side they hung in there all day to rally and score 5 runs on the back of some inspired batting in the last innings. The rally was started by James Arthur (our number 9 hitter) and saw us pile on 6 hits and a walk to get the runs needed to get over the line. Another fine all the way effort on the mound by Andrew Speed to strike out 5 Newport batters and had it not been for some very untidy errors in the field he would have had the opposition under control all day. Hits went to Tom Andronas (Double), Andrew Speed 2, Chao, Ben Hart, Bill Miles, Tim Donald, Peter Moore, and James Arthur. 21/11/04 – beat Malvern 13-6 Masters 8/11/04 – lost to Blackburn 2-1 Not your typical Masters game with the pitching and defence dominating the game. Our defence led by "Meady" (4 innings) and "Smiles" (3 Innings) kept a very formidable Blackburn line-up quiet for most of the night, but in the dwindling light the Blackburn batters had back to back hits to score the winning run in the last innings. We then all retired to the bar and BBQ to reminisce about days gone by and other more important matters such as who had injured what and who do we play next week. 16/11/04 – lost to Essendon 6-2 The lateness of the hour may have had something to do with our sluggish start but some costly errors and not so pretty defence saw 4 Essendon runners cross the plate in the first innings. We did make some headway scoring 2 runs to close the gap but could not get the bats going to get the necessary runners on base to exert some pressure. Back to back defeats is not something the Masters have experienced very often which means we will have to dig deep against Newport (at home) next week.   More Results Ladies – beat Bacchus Marsh 23-0 With three of the eleven girls unavailable to play the girls headed down to Bacchus Marsh with a extra player in tow, although training wasn't that fantastic the girls turned on a real show, with only one error in the field. Merryn’s pitching had the Bacchus Marsh girls a little confused. With the bat Melbourne crushed with several girls hitting doubles and triples, the girls really did work well together. U18 – beat Port Melbourne 17-1 The coaching staff were concerned that a washout followed by a bye, plus several rained-out practices, might leave us underdone for this match. Not to worry - a strong all-round performance with bat and ball assisted by a full turnout of 10 players resulted in a blitz. Stand-in coach Mead rotated the positions to give players some new experiences. Peter “Larry” Moore stepped on to the mound in the last innings and pitched superbly, striking out the first batter, having the second caught, and the third getting only half way towards first base. The U18s sit in second place on the ladder, and the washout was against the top-placed Moorabbin/Bonbeach. So it is a bit difficult to gauge where we stand in the scheme of things. The team is playing well, and if we can get all players turning up, we will be hard to beat this season. U16 – beat Upwey 9-4 A big final inning team batting performance got us home in what had been a tight game up to that point. To be fair, some consistent batting earlier in the game forced Upwey to bring on their number 2 pitcher which may have helped our cause. Once again the infield didn't help though, with some basic errors on plays that should have often ended an innings or taken the pressure off the steady pitching by Jordan Mitchelhill and Andy Mann. The outfield of Nick Dundon, Eddie Dunstan and Chris Hince/ Rhett Mitchelhill fielded well letting nothing through and taking all the fly balls that came their way. Two stolen bases at good times (Ben Hart, Chris Hince) were good, as was Ben's 2nd - home on a shallow single( nice sliding from both players) but there's odd times when our baserunning isn't quite right. We are still leaving a lot of runners on base but our batting has certainly improved over the last few weeks - hopefully a good sign for the rest of the season. Highlights: Power batting by Jordan Mitchelhill and Jonathan Wiggins and strong, flat hitting from most of the line-up getting many safe hits and forcing a number of errors from hard ground balls. Hits went to Jordan Mitchelhill 2 (both triples!), Wiggins 2 (2B, SB), Rhett Mitchelhill 2 , Mann 2 , Hince 1, O'Reilly 1, Hough 1. The last inning rally - BB, hit, hit and run (well done Chris), hit, hit, ground ball RBI (well done Eddie), etc. for 5 runs. U14 Demons – beat Bonbeach 9-5 This week the Demons were up against Bonbeach at Macleay Park. With three boys (Emmerson Satur, Bryce Taylor & Chris Karabatsos) away with the Victorian State School Softball team, it looked as if we would only have eight players. Some quick phone calls to the Victorian Border (Mildura) and we were able to welcome first gamer Lachlan Fuda with his father Peter – our sincere thanks to both Peter and Lachlan for their commitment and assistance for this game. Campbell Wiggins started well on the mound, keeping Bonbeach to just 2 runs in 2 digs, before being hit on the knee by a HPB. Our bats started off where they left off last week with 3 doubles in the first 2 digs. Ben Cull replaced Campbell on the mound and continued to pitch well, while our hitters continued to trouble the scorers in each dig. Alex Hondo finished off the game, shutting out the Bonbeach hitters. Highlights: First year player Timothy Stephens snaring a fly at right field, horizontal to the ground and then getting to his feet and throwing out the runner at 2nd base, not to mention his 2 safe hits. Big Jason Shaw’s awesome power with the bat, another 2 cracking shots through the fences on one bounce. Lachlan Fuda behind the dish – a great game with excellent glove work. Safe hits to Jason Shaw (2 doubles), Timothy Stephens (2, double), Ben Cull (double), Campbell Wiggins (single), Alex Hondo (single), Thomas Arthur (single) U14 Red Sox – lost to Fitzroy 24-9 U12 – beat Blackburn 23-4 The U12's needed to show how they could pull together as a team and to demonstrate their batting strength in preparation for the next 4 rounds which promise to be challenging against Springvale, Waverley, Berwick (rematch) and Upwey FTG (beat us in round 4). The Demons came out strong against Blackburn showing why they were 3rd on the ladder with excellent at bat performance from all players. Safe Hits went to Ravi Vithal, Brandon Hough, Jack Scheffer, Patrick Young (2), Chris Vapp and Andrew Harris. Excellent pitching from Brandon Hough shut out the first 2 digs of 6 batters for a very impressive start. Andrew Harris pitched the last 3 digs in equally brilliant fashion conceding only 4 runs. Catching behind the mask was Patrick Young who did a great job supported by Jack Scheffer in the last dig. The fielding work was also excellent with only a small number of errors to work on for next weeks game. Congratulations to the boys for a great game. Thanks to Ellie Politis for providing the rewards at games end. T-BALL Mark Deany, supported by Lee Keown have started the T-Ball season with 10 players rocking up on Friday 19th. The players all enjoying learning the game and aspects of game preparation such as warming up and stretching. T-Ball is to teach the basics of Baseball and most of all to have the children join in a team sport from an early age of 5 to 8 years and have fun. Contact Mark Deany on - 0439 346 953 or markdeany@hotmail.com for more information. UNDER 12’s Melbourne U12’s play in a competition V Doncaster on Friday nights as part of a greater Eastern Division. The “North” division and “South” division played in an exciting Round Robin under lights at Doncaster on October 29 th to much fanfare. All the kids enjoyed this spectacular. The season round 1 “North” officially starting on November 12 th after a disappointing washout on November 5 th. The teams contributing to this competition are Melbourne RED and Melbourne BLUE, These teams include Declan Gates, Jethro Gates, Wynona Harvey-Nelson, Aiden Harvey-Nelson, Danyon Smart and Mitchell Thomas supported by the Sunday METRO boys. The Ladder for the first 2 games shows the RED team doing slightly better than the BLUE team. Numbers are still about 2 – 4 short so please encourage more of your friends to join in. UNDER 14’s Melbourne U14’s have formed 2 teams RED and BLUE like the U12’s, these teams are built from those players keen to enjoy team sport on a Friday night. Games are played on a rotating basis between Surrey Park (every second week), Malvern and Ormond. The Friday boys include Michael Duncan, Jim Farrands, Morgan Hancocks, Matthew Harding and Bill Huggins with good support from the Sunday U14 METRO and some of the U14 STATE players. There are still 3 – 4 players needed to fill the U14’s teams so please talk to your friends to see if they would like to join in. Fixtures are available from Melbourne’s website http://www.melbournedemons.baseball.com.au/ then go to Juniors   This copywrited publication is presented by authority of the office of the chairman of the Melbourne Baseball Club and may not be reproduced or retransmitted in any form; the accounts and descriptions of this article may not be disseminated without express written consent.