December Daze!!
December came calling and left us with the unfamiliar feeling of going under 500 as a club for the first time this season. A confluence of matches against top ranked rivals in each of the 14/2’s and Little League Majors and Minors saw us come up short in each fixture against worthy opponents.
A beautiful day on Saturday saw our Div 3 machine clean up the tribe. Reports were that Under 18 Joel Chapman was very impressive on the mound, emulating older brother Daniel, and in spite of loading the team up with talent, our opponents were unable to summon enough offense to best our now top ranked team. Unfortunately at the same venue, the Div 4 boys were unable to hold on to a 6 run lead in the bottom of the last frame and had to walk away with a loss. Better luck next time boys. The Div 5’s ran into a rampant Red Sox outfit and were out slugged, but the Div 6 veterans were able to turn the tables on the tribe for a narrow win.
A magnificent Baseball day greeted us on Sunday morning, and the top ranked Under 18’s got to sleep in, courtesy of the bye. So, it was the Under 16’s who kicked off the dew at home, hosting the Cards in a mercy rule win to maintain their unbeaten record atop the table. Unluckily for the Tigers, they ran into a rampaging juggernaut known colloquially as the Green machine (named fondly after its revered mentor). The Under 14/1’s were on fire in the fifth inning and were up to 13 runs and counting by the time the Umpire decided he’d seen enough and called time and game, reverting the score back to equal innings giving us ‘just’ the 8 nil decision. What are five runs between friends??
The Dineen machine (Under 14/2), whose recent track record made for very impressive reading, ran headlong into the raging flag favourites in that Division. Norths, in their wisdom, chose to nominate their only team at this age group in the Div 2 section, when clearly a number of their players ought to be playing Div 1, nevertheless, we have to learn to play against all opponents, good and bad, and clearly we were outplayed this weekend, better luck next week boys. Finally, the Little Leaguers both drew the highly respected Sturt teams, and we were clearly outplayed in both matches. Congratulations to the Sainters, we know that they will always come hard at us, because they rate our teams highly, so treat that as a compliment, learn from what we did and see if we can get closer next time.
Closing out the day at the Nest, the Div 1’s and 2’s hosted the Magpies from Port Adelaide. Under 18 State pitcher Sam Bawden took control on the mound in the Div 2 game and he pitched magnificently, giving up a solo bomb to left as the offense throttled the Magpies starter. The game was closed out when Daniel Chapman came on in relief, and once again the Chapman family took over the infield when Joel played at 3rd and of course Andrew was the catcher. Final score Good guys 11 Maggies 2. Mentions also to Nathan Vanderlinden, Dylan Chuck and Sam Burgess who completed an extremely youthful infield. A veritable ‘old-age pensioner’ outfield featuring the Henry brothers of course counterbalanced this and boy Mark’s bat was smokin’!!
Unfortunately, the day did not finish well for our ‘A’ grade that had trouble with Port’s Claxton Shield pitcher Ryan Murphy who proved too tough for our batters. Steve O’Connor and Jono Rex tried hard to hold the Magpie offense, but a 2 run double late off Daniel Redden was a bridge too far, even for the David Forbes solo shot in the bottom of the last frame. Coach Tibbits summed up his frustration afterwards by saying that we had our chances and couldn’t take them. I’m sure they’re going flat out to solve this problem.
Commiserations to Matthew Spencer whose untimely knee injury in the Div 2 game on an attempted steal completes a miserable run of luck, which combined with an existing shoulder injury, is a cruel blow. I’m sure I speak for everyone in wishing Matthew a speedy recovery.
