West Torrens Baseball Club

Round 14 West Torrens 1 Kensington 8
Round 15 Goodwood 10 West Torrens 3

The Division 1 side’s chances of making the finals took a severe blow with 2 losses over the weekend.

On Saturday several defensive blunders and a lack of aggression at the plate resulted in a painful defeat against a team who before the weekend were ranked below us. Our overall approach on the day raised questions surrounding the level of commitment and desire of some to play Division 1 baseball for this club. Amongst some scattered hitting the standout was Tom Fiebig who was one of few to make the necessary adjustments against Kensington’s knuckleball starter.

Sunday versus Goodwood was an improved showing with better hitting and defence in general. Luck did not go our way with more than several line drives going straight to fielders including 3 in a row off the bat of Jedi Morgan. However, to be in a situation where luck could determine our fate was always going to be dangerous. To score only 3 runs off a weak starter was never going to be good enough against a line-up boasting 4 state representatives.

To play hard nosed baseball and come up short against better quality opposition would be acceptable. To underachieve and lose as a result of physical and mental errors and general passiveness is not acceptable. It may be a cliché, but it’s high time our players did some soul searching and ask themselves if they are giving their best to West Torrens Baseball Club.

Sam Tibbits

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
West Torrens Div 1
0 1 0 0 0 1 1 2 5 10 10 3
Northern Dist Div 1
0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 4 7 6

A late surge by the Eagles saw us defeat Norths at Walkleys Reserve on Sunday. The bats never woke up against their LH starter who was probably a little better than expected. His stats certainly suggested so with 13k’s and only 3 hits over 6 innings. However erratic pitching was his downfall with an elevated pitch count seeing him leave the game after those 6 digs. But the lack of adjustment by the Eagles hitters before he was done was still frustrating. Against better quality pitching we still need to put the ball in play to at least apply pressure to the opposing defence.

The boys led 2-1 middle 6 courtesy of an Adam ‘Is it footy season yet?’ Spence RBI in the 2nd and the Norths battery sharing 2 wild throws to plate Moose Falls in the 5th. Early Norths baserunning threats were hosed down by slick picks from Rexy at 2b and 1b and 3 consecutive donuts to begin the game.However after Dutchy Holland saw red allowing Oswald on board, Rexy clearly exceeded his pick off quota for the weekend with the 3rd pick in under 4 seconds going wild to let L.H.O 180degs to 3b. Big hitting Drew Miller then bounced a hard grounder to 1b and despite playing shallow RF Tibbo still used the opportunity to dispense with the 1B glove and attempt to utilise long gone catching skills instead. The result being an RBI PO3 and stitches tattooed on the wrist.

The Reds got going bottom 6 with a HPB to L.H.O which incensed the little man despite being a 2-2 change piece. An (un)intentional walk to Miller and a base hit to Whelan not only plated L.H.O but led to a mini circus in the Eagles infield with 2 wt’s resulting in Miller also scoring. Result: Eagles down 3-2 going into top 7.

Not to be found in the Joe Torre managers handbook was the Norths LH starter moving to 2b to begin the 7th. It may have been described a masterstroke if not for 3E’s executed the first 3 times he touched the ball. Adding insult to injury a TBone liner almost castrated him and resulted in the plating of T Fiebig to tie the game. Although juicing the sacks the Eagles didn’t convert again but the shift in momentum had begun.

Steve-O took over hurling duties bottom 7 and immediately took charge retiring the next 4 and inducing a GBDP to end the 8th. Previously, in the top half of the 8th a lead off thumbs WTP to RF for David ‘Wags’ Forbes, a HPB to Spence and consecutive sacs to Jesse Grey Guns Duval and Angry Adam Lewis resulted in another run. Clearly showing he has no concept of the discipline required to be a HR hitter, a laced double to Moose off the LF fence resulted in another.

Top 9 a sea of green including singles to Bone, Moose and DF, a double to Spence and a HR to the short RF porch to Tibbo resulted in a further 5 crossing the dish. The result beyond doubt Steve-O commenced bottom 9 with the spirit of the season in his heart, offering a first pitch kris kringle to Miller that was duely launched to the same part of the field as Tibbo’s previous HR, although juuuuuuuuust a little bit deeper. Christmas cheer completed, the next 3 were sat down in order and the game was over.

An at times topsy turvey game to round out a rocky first half that sees us at 6 and 6. However there’s no doubt the boys are looking positively to the second half and a run at the playoffs. If we continue to keep the defence sound, the pitching strong and increase our application and output with the sticks we will see action in March.

On a final note thanks to the big ginga ninja TBone for his help over the last 2 weeks. His big bat, solid glove and presence in general were a huge help to the 1’s and 2’s. I hope some of our players learned from his example of controlled aggression and passion for the game. Good luck in the June draft and we hope to see you back at the Lockleys Dome soon Bone.

On behalf of the West Torrens Baseball Club, I take this opportunity to wish you all the Compliments of the Season. I hope that Christmas is a special family time for you all and that you get the opportunity to relax and enjoy each other’s company. We look forward to seeing you all in the New Year and that you arrive safely back for the resumption in January.

 Christmas Holidays start with a bang 

The weekend started out at Norwood Oval on Friday with many of our Eagle boys participating in the Training with the Pro’s session. This was a fantastic opportunity for available players to work with instructions from luminaries such as World Series Champion Pat Kelly of the New York Yankees, the current General Manager of the MLB backed Adelaide franchise Claxton Shield leading South Australian Baseball team. Also in attendance were Claxton Shield stars of the 2009/10 summer including Stefan Welch, Matthew Smith, Paul Mildren, Jackson Lodge, Ben Lodge and two coaches from NSW with Major League experience. It was an altogether great experience for all involved. If you get the chance next year, it’s a great day. The kids received an MLB Cap of their choice, an MLB Training with the Pro’s T-shirt, a drink bottle and a backpack, PLUS over two hours of running around playing baseball on Norwood Oval. Does it get any better than that?

YES! Because after that finished, they got in to watch the Giants demolish the Patriots 8 – 2 and win game one and be part of an enormous crowd of almost 2500 fans. What an atmosphere, and the old timers tell me that was just a quarter of what used to turn up. Imagine a crowd of 8000 at Norwood Oval for Baseball. How good would that be?

 As suggested, this was only the beginning, because if you wanted to see SA Baseball at its best, you could’ve headed back to Norwood Oval at 3 o’clock on Saturday to watch SA try to seal the series win which we eventually did with a 4 – 1 Game 3 decision. In between Games 2 and 3, our Under 14 State team got to play ‘Yard Ball’ on the Main Diamond! Mitch Duval, Jack Hambly and Sam McGarry from the Eagles had this opportunity and are still talking about how much fun it was.

 Eagles come within 1 run of a clean Sweep!

 The Eagles rocked the SABL this weekend with wins in every grade, with the exception of the Division 4’s whose 6 all draw left us within 1 run of a complete sweep of all matches!

Sunday morning rolled around and it was off to the races for all Junior teams except for the Under 16’s who got to sleep in thanks to the draw now including a bye. They break for Christmas sitting on top with 7 wins and just the 1 loss. Well done Rick Mead on an outstanding first half.

 18’s bone the Rams

 The Under 18’s had to report to Ram Stadium where a first inning blitz netted 8 unanswered runs including a lead off single and a 2 run triple from our lead off batter! How easy was this going to be, particularly given that Nathan Vanderlinden was going off the mound? To the Rams’ credit, they then held the Eagles to just 3 runs whilst posting a couple of their own off the back of some good hitting. With Nathan and Dylan Chuck having to leave for their date in Division 2, Bryce Fulton returning from illness last week stepped in and quieted the game down. Final score Eagles 11 – Henley & Grange 2.

 Green Machine back in Sync

 Back to the Nest and the Green Machine were in search of redemption with last weekend’s reversal fresh in the minds (of Head Coach Green at least). Duly, redemption was served up, but only after a spirited battle with a feisty Cardinals outfit that had dramatically improved since our first outing against them. Three scoreless innings was testament to this. Jack Hambly went off the mound, holding the Cardies scoreless, but we too struggled to get our bats in order and three innings of copy book baseball saw scores tied. Connor Foley came to the mound in the fourth and did a good job keeping the score at nil-nil, before finally, the batting line-up started to exercise a little patience, lay off the high stuff and drew some Bases on balls. The pressure started to mount on our opposing pitcher and unfortunately he gave up his first run with a walk. Fortunately for us, we then started to hit the ball and four more runs were plated before the inning was done. However, not to be outdone, The Cardies stormed back with three runs of their own, and Coach Green was forced to bring in closer Lucas Hunter to quieten the bats. This he duly did. With our second last at bat and a new Cardinals pitcher, we ended up with a donut again before holding the two run lead. What turned out to be the final dig, was the bottom of the sixth when we plated six runs to blow the game apart. Again patience early in the count followed by some counter punch hitting and the game was put beyond doubt 11 – 3 when time was called.

 Dineen machine back from the dead!

 It was looking a bit of a worry for the 14/2 Dineen Machine when the first two innings only resulted in 1 run for each inning for the Eagles. The Rangers got off to a flying start with 7 runs in the first innings, but James Appleton found his rhythm on the mound at the bottom of the 2nd innings and the Rangers were held to only 1 run. The boys regrouped and at the top of the 3rd innings they stepped up to the plate and started to play ball. Some excellent hitting and base running commenced to earn the Eagles 7 runs and side away. Will Lampard took to the mound at the bottom of the 3rd and kept the Rangers to 4 runs. The Eagles stepped up to bat at the top of the 4th knowing they had to reproduce their best effort and the goal was 7 runs. Again some excellent watching of the ball and hitting took place at the plate, with the boys achieving a constant state of bases loaded. The Eagles were rewarded for their efforts and it was side away with 7 runs. Will Lampard again took to the mound at the bottom of the 4th with the score 16 – 12. The Rangers could still win if they could get enough runs on the board.

First batter up, 4 pitches and the batter was out.

Next batter stepped up to the plate, 3 pitches and the batter was out.

Third batter hit a ground ball to left field, who threw it to 2nd base to keep the runner at 1st base, well drilled boys!

The fourth batter stepped up to the plate and the runner on 1st managed to steal to 2nd on a Passed Ball. The boys looked sharp and knew the play. The final pitch, ground ball to the pitcher who threw it to 1st base for the 3rd out, game over! Final score Eagles 16 - Rangers 12.

Little League Major and Minor sweep

 Jimmy and Tim’s Little League Major boys took part in a 32 run slugfest up at Kensington on Sunday afternoon and fortunately for the Eagle boys our number was the bigger of the two when the dust settled. They go to the break sitting just a game behind leaders Sturt. Ronnie’s Minor Leaguers were more comfortable in holding the Tribe at the Reservation.

 For match reports and details check out the club’s website:

 http://www.wtbc.org.au

 The club scoreboard for this week reads as follow

WT                              Result                        Opponent                              Season                      Ladder

Division 1      10        defeated        Northern Districts     3          6 – 6                           (7^th)

Division 2      10        defeated        Northern Districts     0          9 – 2 – 1                     (2^nd)   

Division 3      10        defeated        Southern Districts    2          10 – 1                         (1^st)

Division 4      6          drew               Port Adelaide            6          4 – 5 – 1                     (7^th)

Division 5      12        defeated        Southern Districts    10        5 – 6                           (7^th)

Division 6      12        defeated        Northern Districts     3          8 – 1 – 2                     (2^nd)

Under 18       11        defeated        Henley & Grange     2          8 – 1                           (1^st)

Under 16                   BYE                                                               7 – 1                           (1^st)

Under 14 (1)  11        defeated        Kensington               3          8 – 1                           (1^st)

Under 14 (2)  16        defeated        Gawler                       12        6 – 3                           (3^rd)

LL Major         17        defeated        Kensington               15        7 – 1 – 1                     (2^nd)

LL Minor        15        defeated        Goodwood                 4          5 – 4                           (4^th)

 

 Christmas Holiday Break

 A reminder to all that the season is now in recession until January 24^th 2010. Training will recommence in the week leading up to the 24^th. Therefore, 14’s, 16’s and 18’s resume on Wednesday 20^th January and the Little Leaguers join them on Friday 22^nd January. Pitchers are advised that Bull Pens will start the preceding Wednesday 13^th January with Head Pitching Coach Baker. Please advise Coaches of your availability for the end of January.

 January 24 our games are as follows:

Little League Minor:           Coach:           Ron Paulus

Kensington at home, on the Junior Diamond

Starting at 10.00am (report 9.00am)

Little League Major:           Coaches:       Jamie Boydon and Tim Mead

Southern Districts at home, on the Junior Diamond

Starting at 12.00pm (report 11.00am)

Under 14 (2):                       Coach:           Rob Dineen

Southern Districts at home, on the Main Diamond

Starting at 12.30pm (report at 11.30am)

Under 14 (1):                        Coach:          David Green

Sturt away, on the Main Diamond

Starting at 10.00am (report at 9.00am)

Under 16:                              Coach:           Rick Mead

Sturt away, on the Main Diamond

Starting at 3.00pm (report at 2.00pm)

Under 18:                              Coach:           Brett Ettridge

Northern Districts at home, on the Main Diamond

Starting at 10.00am (report 9.00am

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

 Yours in Baseball   

Mark McGarry

Junior Chairman

West Torrens Baseball Club

With the end of the year nearing another inductee enters the team.

Welcome aboard Alex Morgan and what a way to finish 2009 with 10 hits in 3 innings.

4 singles from Nathan Valentini, Josh Lee, Kyle Nicol and Nathan Collins.

3 doubles by Brodie Nicol, a triple from Jordan Warman and 2 run in the park home runs by Kyle Nicol.

This was assisted by Kyle’s lightening speed around the bases.

Oscar Mitton worked hard behind the plate again and Brodie pitched another solid innings.

Kyle and Jordan did what they had to but a little more belief in what they can do and the results will come in.

Luke Houston, Jacob Scott and Ethan D’Angelo were both very busy backing up in the pivot positions and ran the bases well.

15 – 4 was a good result and hopefully we can keep the momentum going when we return and give some teams some serious grief.

Special thanks to Andrew Scott for his help.

Well unfortunately we have endured another loss and the boys are finding out that Baseball is a thinking man’s game.

This is nothing we can’t cure by a little hard work and some fun on the training track.

Highlights, Ethan D’Angelo showed us he can be a classy infielder with a nice ground out. He also caught well.  

Kyle and Brodie Nicol contested each other in pitching.

Kyle is also swinging the bat well and finding contact and not far off a good hit.

Brodie performed well doing his innings in 18 pitches and Kyle just pipped him with 17.

Josh Lee also pitched well with his first full innings and with that sort of performance there will be plenty more to come.

Jacob Scott also pitched a great innings and had the field grasped a few more outs he would have had a very short innings. An awesome job by the big guy!!!

Nathan Valentini was quite but last week took a nice catch and has been swinging the bat. 

Jordan Warman is still putting in and he isn’t far off some good results keep putting in at training and it will happen.

Luke Housten also put in an effort behind the plate and when he understands more about the game of baseball he will be quite handy.

We are 4 and 4 and hopefully we can find some confidence and form to finish the year on a good note because the talent is there!

In one of the most awesome displays of power hitting seen for some time at the nest, Tyrone Hambly announced that he is home (albeit a briefly) by launching a one-man demolition of Henley & Grange on Sunday afternoon. Returning from College in the USA, where he still has some commitments that take him back in early January, Hambly suited up for the ‘B’s to dust off the cobwebs, having not played for a few weeks since the College season finished. Clearly out of touch, Tyrone’s first hit off the hapless Rams pitching staff ‘only’ made it to the left field fence on a single hop, producing a two-run double. His next hit made a little better contact and duly cleared the fence this time for 3 runs batted in. His next at bat saw Tyrone starting to get his timing right after so long out of the game, and the ball disappeared over the Lockleys Football clubrooms. Learned observers were wondering when the Rams would work out that it might just be easier to walk him! Notwithstanding this, the B-Grade finally finished at a merciful 13 nil and Tyrone reported to the bench in the A Grade and his first at bat…You got it… a GRAND SLAM that launched into the next suburb. Welcome home Tyrone!!! Henley finally got it, and walked him after that.

We can’t wait to see you get back here and no doubt, the Adelaide Giants could use a dose of your magic as well.

 On to matters Junior, this weekend saw our two remaining undefeated teams let that mantle slip with both recording their first losses of the season. The Under 14/1 Green machine went up to Golden Grove and after allowing the Dodgers to max out at 7 in the first dig, was always playing catch up and ultimately even after regaining the 7 themselves in the fourth went down by the single run. The Under 16’s, having lost Bryce Fulton and Dylan Duval to injury before the game, faced a pumped and prepared Red Sox who were keen to prove themselves after going down earlier in the season by the single run. The Sox duly opened a 6 run lead that we were unable to bridge going down 2 – 8, and showed us that we can take nothing for granted in this game.

On a brighter note, the Under 18’s after having the bye last week shaped up to Port Adelaide at the nest, and after an ordinary 3 up, 3 down first dig, the Eagle bats exploded fro 7 runs in the second, 2 in the third and 4 in the fifth to overpower the Magpies and record a 13 – 3 win. Dylan Chuck started on the mound, and took a while to settle, but soon had his fastball zinging and his curve ball dancing. Coach Ettridge, fearing a rout, took him out after 3 and brought Joel Chapman to the mound. Chappy pitched well, but was unlucky with a couple of bleeders getting on board before being driven in by a classic drive to right centre giving the Maggies a sniff with 2 in the fourth. They followed with another run in the fourth before Chappy shut them down. The fielding highlight of the day in support of Chucky was a 6 – 4 – 3 double play that snuffed out a potential rally.

The Under 14/2 Dineen machine, after starting the day with just 8 players, called for reinforcements and were able to hold out the Rams for the win 15 – 13, putting them back over 500 and definitely in finals contention.

The Little League Major boys, licking their wounds after last weekend’s loss at the hands of Sturt, went across to the Angels, where they were able to record a solid 14 – 8 win. Finally, Ronny Paulus’ Little League Minor Bambinos ran in to another Sturt team that as always, was well drilled, and a little too strong for us on this occasion. The definite highlight was a great batting effort in the last dig, where the boys maxed out with 5 runs. Unfortunately, it was a little too late. Final score Eagles 5 – 12

 For match reports and details check out the club’s website:

 http://www.wtbc.org.au

 The club scoreboard for this week reads as follows:    

WT                              Result                        Opponent                              Season                      Ladder

Division 1      17        defeated        Henley & Grange     1          5 – 6                           (9^th)

Division 2      13        defeated        Henley & Grange     0          8 – 2 – 1                     (2^nd)   

Division 3      13        defeated        Gawler                       10        9 – 1                           (1^st)

Division 4      0          lost to              Northern Districts     15        4 – 5                           (7^th)

Division 5      7          lost to              Gawler                       8          4 – 6                           (9^th)

Division 6      7          defeated        Kensington               6          7 – 1 – 2                     (3^rd)

Under 18       13        defeated        Port Adelaide            3          7 – 1                           (1^st)

Under 16       2          lost to             East Torrens             8          7 – 1                           (1^st)

Under 14 (1)11         lost to             Golden Grove           12        7 – 1                           (1^st)

Under 14 (2)15         defeated        Henley & Grange     13        5 – 3                           (3^rd)

LL Major         14        defeated        Adelaide                    8          6 – 1 – 1                     (2^nd)

LL Minor        5          lost to              Sturt                            12        4 – 4                           (4^th)

 

Tee ball All-Stars

 The second round of Tee ball All-Stars was played this weekend and hosted by West Torrens.

Although home ground advantage didn’t see us record a win, the improvement shown by all

players from 2 weeks ago was great to see.

With a couple of players missing on holidays, we were glad to have 3 new faces join our

team. Welcome to Steph and Julia Didone (hope I got that right) and also to Alex Morgan who can run the bases faster than his old man ever could.

Highlights for the day go to Harry Mitton and Darcy Barry showing some good form with the bat and Carl Grosser with improvement in the field being good to see.

Congratulations to Jacob Scott who was this week’s MVP with consistent batting and fielding in all 3 games.

The Tee Ballers take a well-earned rest now until we get together again for the 3rd round in February at Kensington.

 Andrew Scott

 Fees

 Thank you to all parents who responded in timely fashion to my communication about payment of fees in last week’s newsletter and subsequent personal reminders. Please understand the necessity for this; the club needs the funds to pay its commitment to the SA Baseball League.

 Christmas Holiday Break

 This weekend marks the conclusion of the first half of the season. The competition recesses now until late January, however, if you are missing baseball and can’t get enough, the Division 1 and 2 teams resume on January 9^th. The Claxton Shield season winds up the minor round at Norwood Oval on January 15^th when SA takes on the Vics. Hopefully by then, SA will have cemented a place in the playoffs and their season will go even further.

 December 20 our games are as follows:

 Little League Minor:           Coach:           Ron Paulus

Goodwood away, Mortlock Park, Sturt Ave, Colonel Light Gardens on the Junior Diamond

Starting at 10.00am (report 9.00am)

 Little League Major:           Coaches:       Jamie Boydon and Tim Mead

Kensington away, Newlands Reserve, Hallett Rd, Erindale on the Junior Diamond

Starting at 2.00pm (report 1.00pm)

 Under 14 (2):                       Coach:           Rob Dineen

Gawler away, Karbeethan Reserve, Angle Vale Rd, Evanston Gardens.

Starting at 10.00am (report at 9.00am)

 Under 14 (1):                        Coach:          David Green

Kensington at home, on the Main Diamond

Starting at 12.00pm (report at 11.00am)

 Under 16:                              Coach:           Rick Mead

BYE. Due to Henley & Grange withdrawal

Under 18:                              Coach:           Brett Ettridge

Henley & Grange away, West Lakes Sports Club, Bartley Terrace, West Lakes Shore

Starting at 10.00am (report 9.00am)

 See you at the ballpark!

 Yours in Baseball   

Mark McGarry

Junior Chairman

West Torrens Baseball Club

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10		R
Henley Grange Div 1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0					1
West Torrens Div 1	1	0	0	7	0	9						17

 The Eagles did what was required to steady the ship with a resounding victory over Henley and Grange on Sunday. In a much needed percentage boost, the boys piled on 17 runs, 16 of them earned. The victory sends a clear message to the league that we are not about to roll over as we head into a challenging second half of the draw.

Although H&G were much weaker on paper, a victory was never an automatic certainty, and with the scores locked at 1 all going into the 4th, a W was far from being a forgone conclusion.

 But the bats came to life bottom 4 eventually plating 7 runs. After a leadoff double (Wags) from Tibbo, he was moved to third by a right side fly courtesy of T Holland, but didn’t have the wheels to try for the dish on another RF fly from D Forbes. What followed was a huge 2 out rally sparked by an A Spencer triple, singles to Jesse D and Lewy, free passes to Moose Falls and Tom Fiebig and completed by a line drive Grand Slam onto the Footy Club from T-Bone. In his return to the Lockleys Dome, Bone had a huge day across both grades with a combined 5 hits, 3 home runs and 13 rbi’s. The only sour note was a complaint from a Rutland Avenue resident who was almost killed by a missile whilst tending to his backyard agapanthus during the division 2 fixture.

 Not satisfied with a commanding lead, to their credit the boys kept up the intensity and piled on 9 more runs bottom 6 to put the result beyond doubt. The inning yielded 4 doubles –  from Moose, Holland, Fiebig and Tibbo and singles to A Spence and D Forbes. In his final AB of the day, the bat was taken out of Bone’s hands with an intentional walk by order of the Lockleys Police who had come down to investigate the unidentified blips showing up on the Adelaide Airport radar.

 Pitching wise Steve-O was the first to admit he didn’t have his A game on the day, but to his credit he toiled to complete 6 innings giving up just 2 hits. Rexy came in to put out the lights with a manner akin to an excited schoolboy on Christmas eve. Either that or he was in a hurry to get to the Ramsgate.

 Some solid support and voice from the bench players was not forgotten on a day where we still needed to get the runs on the board. It was pleasing to see every starting player hit safely and we will look to take this form into another must win game versus Norths at Walkleys Park next Sunday. Come and support the boys in their last game before the break.

 Sam Tibbits

With several players attending Woodstock in Bonython Park the Eagles had to dig deep to field a side for the rematch of the 2008/09 Grand Final against Goodwood. In what was always going to be a tight contest the Eagles needed to execute when the opportunity arose and play tight defence.

 After manufacturing a run in the top of the first thanks to a Zoontjens line drive up the middle scoring Chuck from second, Joel Chapman took to the dome for the visitors and was in control from the outset. Getting in front of opposing hitters early allowed Chappy III to use his off-speed stuff to keep the hitters off balance.

 Stephens, M doubled and came in to score on a Chapman green pencil  in the second to take the Eagles to an early 2-0 lead. Tight defence (D Chuck with a snakey smooth backhand play up the middle and Charlie Brown turning back the clock with a running, sliding catch in shallow RF) and quality pitching produced a couple of further donuts for the Goodwood side.

 After a couple of quiet digs and some good hitting from the Indians the score was back to 2-2 after 4. Needing to manufacture a run the ‘speedy’ Broadbridge led off the 5^th with a walk before swiping a base and staggering to third on an overthrow. Eventually coming home on a Harvey base hit to take a lead they would never relinquish.

 Chapman III who threw an impressive 50 strikes and only 21 balls was replaced on the hill by Chuck who threw a couple of digs. The Eagles piled on 4 more insurance runs in the 7^th including hits to Stephens, Broadbridge, Harvey and Brown. In the bottom of the 8^th with a couple of runners on Zoontjens called on himself to close out the game and did so by cunningly giving up a single and then picking off the runner at 1B. Final score 7-3.

 Great team win with 13 hits and no errors in the field.

Hits: Harvey, Stephens M 3, Broadbridge, Chuck 2, Zoontjens, Brown, Chapman 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10   R H E Port Adelaide Div 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 2 0     5 10 2 West Torrens Div 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0     2 8 3

 An improvement in attitude and intensity were not enough to bring Division 1 a much needed victory on Sunday. Again it was a lack of firepower offensively that made the difference. Frustratingly runners were left in scoring positions on 4 occasions. Port Adelaide broke open the scoring with a 3 run 4th, but a sacrifice fly to David Forbes brought one run across the plate bottom 4 to get the Eagles on board. This seemed to swing momentum back in our favour, but despite some good hitting, the next three innings resulted in no runs in spite of numerous baserunners. A situation of lost opportunities once more.

 In the face of  2 more runs by Port top 8, the Eagles remained positive, with a towering blast off the bat of David Forbes keeping hopes of a comeback alive. However we were unable to deliver bottom nine, with 3 up 3 down ending the game.

 Despite 2 patches of trouble the collective pitching effort from Steve-O, Rexy and Reds was solid against a strong hitting lineup. All season the pitchers have shown resolve in the face of minimal run support and deserve commendation for this.

 It was also pleasing to see a return to form from Chris Falls who was extremely unlucky not to have a multi hit game, with three hard line drives jumping from his bat.

 Notwithstanding the loss, the collective approach on the day was an improvement from recent weeks with more focus and noise in the dugout.  The side remains positive and will take this approach into the game versus Henley and Grange at home this weekend.

 Sam Tibbits

The West Torrens Under 14 (1) team travelled to Glenelg on Sunday to play the Tigers, where they were up against the highly regarded Tiger (and Cal Ripken) pitcher Ben Keeping.  Eagles #2 Lucas Hunter was the first to get on base (on balls)—and subsequently scored on a series of passed balls—to open the Eagles account.  Ethan Haylock was walked and Brad Dedrick was hit by a pitch. Connor Foley was out in a 1-3 play for the second out. The Tigers hit back with some good infield fielding for the third out.

 Jack Hambly was on the mound for the Eagles, and Ethan Haylock was behind the plate.  The Tigers #1 was fielded in a 6-3 play (Pickard-Hunter), then Jack brilliantly fielded a solid drive to get the #2 batter out at first and then struck out the highly regarded #3.  Side away in 14 pitches.

 End of 1^st Innings: West Torrens 1, Glenelg 0

 McGarry, Hambly, Bouchier (RBI) and Pickard (RBI) all hit single base hits, with McGarry, Hambly, Bouchier all crossing the plate

 At the bottom of the second innings, Hambly had the Tigers #4 field out by McGarry in a 4-3 play, and then McGarry caught a fly ball for the second out.  The third out was a good play by catcher Haylock throwing to Hunter at first.  Side away in 11 pitches.

 End of 2nd Innings: West Torrens 4, Glenelg 0

 In the third innings Dedrick, Foley, McGarry, all hit single base hits—but only Foley scored before the Tiger’s pitcher hit back.

 Hambly fielded well again to get the Tiger #7 out in another 1-3 play. The #8 hit a single to left field, but was caught stealing by McGarry, and the #9 was out in three straight strikes.  Three out in seven pitches.  Overall, the first 9 Tiger batters were out in three innings.

  End of 3rd Innings: West Torrens 5, Glenelg 0

 At the top of the fourth innings Pickard, Hunter and Haylock were all advanced on balls in consecutive at bats (and all scored), while Dedrick, Duval (replacing Foley), McGarry all hit single bases before the innings was over with some running errors.

 Lucas Hunter replaced Hambly on the mound and had the #1 batter out swinging, a fly to Hambly at first for the second out, and a fly to McGarry deep at second for the third out—all in 9 pitches. 

 End of 4th Innings: West Torrens 8, Glenelg 0.

 The Glenelg team struck back in the 5^th innings, only allowing Byrnes to advance on balls before the third out, and no additional runs on the scoreboard.

 For the Tigers, the #4 batter led off with a fly ball that crossed the cones for a double base hit, and followed up with a stolen base to advance to third.  However great defence by the Eagles kept him there. The #5 and #7 batters were out swinging, before Mason Pickard took a great diving catch to close the innings, with 2 batters still on base and no runs scored. 

 End of 5th Innings: West Torrens 8, Glenelg 0.

 Haylock, Dedrick (RBI), Duval, McGarry, Hambly (2RBI) and Pickard (2RBI) all had solid single base hits, while Byrnes was hit by a pitch. Leading 13-0, and with the Tiger’s coach not wishing to bat again, the umpire called time and game and reverted the score back to the end of the 5^th (8-0).

 Game summary: 

 Pitching:

Hambly: 3.0 innings, 32 pitches, 9 balls, 23 strikes, 2 strikeouts, 1 hit.  0.00 ERA

Hunter: 2.0 innings, 31 oitches, 10 balls, 21 strikes, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, 1 hit, 0.00 ERA

Batting:

Hits: McGarry (3), Dedrick (2), Hambly, Bouchier, Pickard, Foley, Duval

Runs: Hunter (2), McGarry, Hambly, Bouchier, Foley, Pickard, Haylock

 Summary:

The Green Machine put on an extremely good display of baseball this week.  Hambly and Hunter both displayed great control on the mound, and were extremely well supported by Haylock behind the plate and all the Eagles fielders. It was a great defensive display to key the Glenelg team scoreless. The Eagles offensive unit also displayed some solid and patient batting to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Well played team.