Eagles flex their muscles in Finals Warm Up

The Minor Round of Junior Baseball concluded on Sunday in another emphatic display of team baseball from the Junior Eagles that featured two complete game shut outs from our starting pitchers in both the Under 16’s and Under 18’s. The Under 18’s blanked fellow aspirants Woodville, the Under 16’s repeated the dose against the Red Sox, the Under 14 Green Machine was too strong for the same club also blanking them. The Under 14 Dineen Machine were too strong for the Rams and the Little League Major outfit had too many guns for South. Our only reversal for the weekend came at Flinders dust bowl against rivals Sturt.
This means that the Under 18, 16, 14/1 and Little League were all top ranked teams after the minor round. The 14/2’s are ranked third, so they will have an elimination first final at home against Golden Grove starting at 12.30 on the Junior Diamond at the Nest. All other teams face qualifying finals against the respective second ranked teams to secure a home Grand Final should they make it through in three weeks time. The 18’s face Glenelg at 10am, the 16’s unfortunately have to play at a neutral venue due to the A & B Grade last minor round game being a home game. This match is a 2pm start at Glenelg against rivals Sturt. The 14/1’s face their nemesis Golden Grove in a return bout against the only team that has beaten us this year. This game goes at 3pm on the Junior Diamond at the Nest. Our Little League Majors kick off the dew with a 10am start against Sturt on the Junior Diamond

The club scoreboard for this week reads as follows:

WT Result Opponent Season Ladder
Division 1 7 defeated Woodville 6 11 – 10 (8th)
Division 1 5 lost to Port Adelaide 8 11 – 11 (8th)
Division 2 2 lost to Woodville 7 12 – 6 – 2 (3rd)
Division 2 3 defeated Port Adelaide 2 13 – 6 – 2 (3rd)
Division 3 1 lost to Goodwood 4 13 – 3 – 2 (2nd)
Division 4 8 defeated Goodwood 6 7 – 9 – 1 (7th)
Division 5 11 defeated Flinders Uni 6 6 – 12 (10th)
Division 6 8 defeated Adelaide 5 12 – 4 – 2 (3rd)
Under 18 8 defeated Woodville 0 14 – 1 (1st)
Under 16 5 defeated East Torrens 0 13 – 1 (1st)
Under 14 (1) 20 defeated East Torrens 0 14 – 1 (1st)
Under 14 (2) 15 defeated Henley & Grange 3 10 – 4 – 1 (3rd)
LL Major 12 defeated Southern Districts 6 12 – 1 – 1 (1st)
LL Minor 5 lost to Sturt 12 9 – 6 (4th)

Vanderlinden throws a complete game shut out

With the Senators calling an early start so that their players could leave earlier for higher grades, it was a bleary eyed bunch that presented for warm up. However, by the end of the game, the Eagles had left nobody in any doubt about their credibility as a genuine finals contender and that Nathan Vanderlinden had thrown a complete game without allowing a run. Starting with a very strong lineup, the Eagles stated their intentions very early making life very difficult for the Senators starter. Woodville boasted players that had played A grade this season and were not to be taken lightly, particularly with the power hitting in their team. Vanderlinden cleverly mixed his pitches up and was able to keep the Woodville bats off balance for most of the day, allowing a couple of scattered hits, and none in bunches. The Senators went to one of their state players to come on in relief, but he was greeted with a stand up triple to deep right and two more runs batted in. So the match progressed , with the set up pitcher relieved, and the closer doing his best to quell the Eagle bats to no avail. By the time game was called, Nathan Vanderlinden was still on the mound and the Eagles had opened up an 8 run lead.

Fulton throws a complete game shut out

Bryce Fulton achieved a milestone on Sunday when he took to the mound for the entire Under 16 game against East Torrens and managed to keep them scoreless in the process. Bryce threw with magnificent control and his fastball was almost untouchable. Backing him up behind the dish was Tom McGarry who must have had sore hands by the time Bryce was done. Initially, the Eagle bats were held in check by James Snelgrove from East Torrens, who also has impressive pitching credentials. It took some team batting to move the first run across the plate, and eventually a hard hit ground ball to the right side sent the runner at third home on the sacrifice. From there the Eagle bats gradually wore the Sox down and some featured hitting by Thomas Dunn, whose drive to deep right centre picked up an RBI. Alister Fogarty twice roped balls down the left field line for safe hits. Todd Dunstall was not to be outdone, and he too hit long. With Fulton in such magnificent command and the Eagle bats working as a team, the Sox were always facing an uphill battle. As Bryce left the mound after the seventh and final dig and the umpire was convinced that the required number of innings had been completed and called time, his coaches and team-mates gathered with him to celebrate his achievement. A good day at the office, a tremendous pitching effort backed up by excellent fielding and comic relief provided by James Batty in staggering three steps to take a regulation fly ball at centre (having completed a trial match for the Eagles football club earlier in the day). Now for the real business against Sturt next weekend.

Green Machine in Over Drive

The Under 14 Green Machine completed their final minor round assignment against an inexperienced, but brave opponent in East Torrens. Starting with Lucas Hunter on the mound throwing to Ethan Haylock behind the dish, the Red Sox had difficulty getting out of the infield and a pair of three up, three down innings saw Lucas’ work for the day complete. Jack Hambly duly stepped up to continue where Lucas had left off, and he too showed good command of his pitches as the Red Sox bats continued to try hard but to no avail. Connor Foley stepped to the plate to complete an inning before Mitch Duval came on to close out the match and hold the opposing bats in check for good. Offensively the Eagles were very strong posting runs at every opportunity on the back of hitting solidly and placing the ball advantageously to advance the runner. The highlight was once again Brad Dedrick who smote the ball long and deep over right centre to push over a couple of runs, but this is not to denigrate the consistency and power of the team hitting that saw us post a win of such magnitude. Golden Grove now lay around the corner, and boasting a fine record as they do, we will certainly have to be at our very best if we are to reverse the only loss we have suffered to date at their hands.

Dineen Machine hold out the Rams

Needing to post a 30 run win to jump into the second semi final spot, the Under 14 Dineen Machine made a tremendous fist of doing just that. Unfortunately time and luck were not on our side and though our win was emphatic, it fell a few runs shy of what we needed. Nevertheless, an outstanding effort from all the boys in this team and they have deservedly qualified for the first semi-final to be played at the Nest at 12.30pm this Sunday against the Dodgers from Golden Grove. Let’s all be there and support the boys and see them get over the line.

Little League Major hold on to top spot

With rivals Sturt still breathing down our necks, it was pleasing to post a win and ensure that we hold on to top spot in our own right, thus ensuring a home final this weekend. The team traveled down to Hawk country and posted a 12 – 6 win against a fellow finals aspirant.

Now the real work begins boys as the finals begin.

Little League Minors slip at Flinders’ Dust bowl

Ron Paulus’ Little League Minor boys were on the wrong end of things this weekend, when playing Sturt at a dry and dusty Flinders University. These boys have had a tremendous season and currently sit in fourth spot. They will continue to play games whilst the finals are on, as there are no finals in this grade. The premier is decided by the ladder position. Ronnie has worked tremendously well with this group, teaching them the game and developing their skills. These guys have Goodwood this weekend.

Final Minor Round

The Division 1 and 2 teams complete their minor round at home this Sunday, and with so many finals programmed at West Torrens it promises to be a great day for baseball at this club. The A grade are still in mathematical contention to make the playoffs, albeit with a series of circumstances having to occur for this to happen, including winning both games this weekend. However, stranger things have happened!. The Division 2 boys on the other hand are in the top four but MUST post wins to ensure that they don’t get pipped at the post by teams breathing down our necks hoping we lose. After Game activities this Sunday include:
Chicken Burgers and chips $5
Juke Box
$5 frozen cocktails
Dinners available 6 to 7.30pm.
So given that the next day is a holiday, why not come down and celebrate with the senior club.

SABL Presentations

All players who represented South Australia this year are reminded that they should attend the annual Junior presentation night on Friday 19 March to be held at the Olympic Hall on West Terrace, Adelaide. Players whose names appear in the top ten will be sent a separate invitation. West Torrens will be presented with the Junior Club Championship for the fourth time in succession.

March 7th First Round of Finals

Little League Minor: Coach: Ron Paulus
Goodwood, Away at Glenelg on Diamond 2
Starting at 9.30am (report 8.30am)

Little League Major: Coaches: Jamie Boydon and Tim Mead
Sturt, Home on the Junior Diamond Qualifying Final
Starting at 10.00am (report 9.00am)

Under 14 (2): Coach: Rob Dineen
Golden Grove, Home on the Junior Diamond 1st Semi-Final (Elimination)
Starting at 12.30pm (report at 11.30am)

Under 14 (1): Coach: David Green
Golden Grove, Home on the Junior Diamond Qualifying Final
Starting at 3.00pm (report at 2.30pm)

Under 16: Coach: Rick Mead
Sturt, @Glenelg on the Main Diamond Qualifying Final
Starting at 2.00pm (report at 1.00pm)

Under 18: Coach: Brett Ettridge
Glenelg, Home on the Main Diamond Qualifying Final
Starting at 10.00am (report 9.00am)

Finals Selection Policy

During the regular season, we expect our coaches to rotate their squads through different positions, infield, outfield, pitching, catching and whatever their skill and experience allows. They also shuffle the batting order to make sure that players are given a fair opportunity at bat. When we enter the finals race, coaches are allowed to choose what they consider to be the line-up that best suits the team’s positional needs. They will endeavour to include all of the squad, but cannot guarantee that every player will see game time.

Junior Presentation Night

For your calendar, the wind up for the 2009/10 season will be Friday 26 March 2010 at the Club Rooms. Players in all Grades are eligible for awards. Coaches are asked to choose three players to receive awards recognising excellence, improvement, or persistence or any combination that they see fit. Our younger players will also receive special recognition fro playing and this year will include the Teeball All Stars that debuted under the tutelage of Andrew Scott and Robert Baker. Please keep this date free as it is our final function for the 09/10 season and we’d love to see you there.

Good luck to all this weekend as we embark another finals campaign

See you at the Ball Park.

Yours in Baseball
Mark McGarry
Junior Chairman
West Torrens Baseball Club