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Under 16

  • 22/11/09

This week was always going to be interesting, as the baseball gods had not been kind with all the hot weather and we had only managed one training session in 2 weeks, and had a game cancelled due to heat. This age group needs to keep playing to stay focussed, as they are discovering a social life, girls, facebook, myspace and all the other things that good baseballers find distracting at times. So on to the game versus Glenelg. This in itself was a good test as the rivalry between West Torrens and Glenelg stems back to my days as a Glenelg Junior, and certainly Etto spent a good deal of his career there also. This team was sitting middle of the pack at Two and two, with no real way of assessing their level of ability based on the results. Best bet, brace yourself for a good hard competitive game and relax when it is all done.

The ball park presentation was first rate, we had the big stage(main diamond) to play on, and all were there on time so it was looking good. Another quick pep talk on the pre game responsibilities and we were in to it.

Pre game went surprisingly well and we scored three unanswered runs in the first to set the scene for the day. A little bit of drama from the opposition saw the close of the first and we then went on to score runs in two and three, then fell asleep for a couple before a game settling run in the sixth. Gave Glenelg a run in the same dig to erase their donut, and that was all she wrote.

Highlights were another superb performance from BA Fulton, with a 70-odd pitch outing over 4 digs for no hits and 2 walks, and a fine save by Dylan Duval, although he lost the plate momentarily in the sixth to give up a run. No harm, no foul and defensively we did very well, with Mitchell Mead providing the comedy relief with a four or five attempt play at second to eventually miss out on getting an out, and looking for a fork to stab that slippery little basebal that would not seem to stay in his glove. Good aggressive baserunning by all and some stellar hitting by BA Fulton for a screaming shot though Short, Matt Scharenberg showing again his consistently with hits when it counted, batting in his fifth different batting position in five games, and a big welcome Back to Thomas Dunn with a towering double to Left in the middle part. Mitchell Mead squared the ledger and hit one of the shots of the day after facing  5 or 6 straight strikes that he killed off,  then nearly decapitated the pitcher with a line drive through the middle for a double.Nico managed to power his way though the basketball induced Corky and when asked if he needed a rest, did not surpise me when he said he would play on, and Tom McGarry had a very pleasing outing both behind the plate and in the batters box.

End result, West Torrens 8, Glenelg 1 and we continue our run to the break. Good test this week with Golden Grove, who are breathing down our necks in second spot.

  • 8/11/09

Under 16, Round 4 Wrap up

This week posed as a danger game for our unbeaten record, with the rivalry between West Torrens and Sturt juniors approaching legendary status. With a couple of their own inclusions in the U16 state side, we believed that we would have a good quality Game. At 2 all after 2 digs, this was shaping up to be a tussle. BA Fulton stumbled this week due to several “dodgy” Bacon and Egg Muffins(who has 3 for breakfast?) and a couple of litres of water. They swelled up to the size of a brick and consequently clagged up the works and introduced him to a world of pain on the mound. The end result saw our game plan shot and we had to take him out of the game. A quick Hurl a few minutes later and he seemed to be on the improve, but too late as we had already replaced him in the line up with Slammin’ Sam McGarry. This meant though that we introduced Nathan Van Derlinden to the U16 mound for the first time this season and he was keen to show Sturt a little about why he is highly regarded in Baseball circles. I have seen hose downs in my time, but Nathan shut the Sturt team down better than any I have seen in a little while, and on cue the bats lit up and it was all over red rover. Good Guys 12, Sturt 2 and not really close in the end.

Highlights were the batting exploits of Tom Mc Garry and Matt Scharenberg with extra base hits, Mr. BP Mitch Booker chimed in for another 2 (Impressive start from a first year) and some great base running from all, with Alistair Fogarty cranking up the wheels and scoring from second on a dropped fly behind first base. Oh to have that sort of speed again. My thanks in no small part to Lucas Hunter And Sam McGarry who filled in fantastically well, with Sam running bases a couple of times and scoring, perhaps even picking up an RBI, and Lucas Hunter showing no fear in the batters’ box and sending a line drive to right field within a whisker of falling safely for extra bases. The way in which these guys went about their business shows great character and success in years to come if they stick with it.

Overall, it was a great team effort where everyone  contributed and this is why we got the points and the bragging rights.

  • 1/11/09

Under 16 , Round 3

This week saw us travel down to the beach side Henley and Grange district. Due to their recent addition of a Division 1 side after a number of years, we got relegated to the substandard number 2 diamond. Just what you need on a 35 degree day. But it gets better!

We had a fairly casual warm up and had to move the opposition side off of the diamond to allow us to complete a barely average infield/outfield workout. Happy Days, I thought as this ground does not hold fond memories for me.

I am pleased to say though that the bats worked early, and we tallied 3,7,4 and 4 for the four innings we played, and our fielding was solid for the most part. A couple of Brain cramps in the last innings by three of our finest saw the opportunity for triple play degenerate in to a single out and the need to rethink our concentration levels at this late stage. No damage though, except for the bragging rights that a triple play would have given us. Final score, good guys 18, others somewhere between 1 and 5(does it really matter).

Highlights were the continued hitting form of Mr BP(Mitch Booker), Mitch Meads’ in the park error home run that was unfortunately the 9th run in a 7 run maximum(so did not count), and the continued rejuvenation of BA Fulton, who registered another outstanding outing, more pleasing than the others due to his ability to have to throw 4 and five strikes to the hitters to get them out, as the umpire was struggling with the quality of his pitches and the obvious mismatch in skill leveles between pitcher and hitter. He also backed up with a sensational display of hitting to help himself along the way.

Also congrats to Alistair Fogarty who has officially made the transition from Softball to Baseball, recording his first safe hit and throwing a runner out at the plate, even though the umpire got that one wrong also.

Lastly, A big shout out to rhe Umpire for inviting the coaches in for a discussion about ethics, experience, baseball careers and unwritten codes perhaps once too often, and my heartfelt thanks to Michelle Mc Garry’s concerns for my welfare as I was discussing changes while the “wild Thing” Joel Ettridge was warming up with the backnet(perhaps he could not see Tom there all suited up) in the last innings. Michelle, I was touched by your concern, but I am resolute in the belief that these guys will somehow manage to miss me, or suffer the consequences as a result of a mistake of those proportions. On to next week!!

  • 25/10/09

After a mad dash back from Golden Grove to Lockleys, The pre-game warm up was well under way when I arrived and all seemed to be “cherry Ripe”. It became apparent by game time though that some of the players had forgotten to hit the go button for their brains, and a couple of mental errors saw us a run down after the top of the first. We returned the favour with two of our own in the bottom half and this is how the scoreline finished. Unfortunately I think some of the hitters were reading a bit too much in to the oppositions abilities on the day, and certainly assisted their cause with some porr pitch selection to swing at. I reckon we had 4 or 5 dropped third strikes and really lost the ability to execute the team hitting requirements that we had done so well the week before. We left plenty on base and should have really been very comfortable winners, but in the end were happy to get the points.

Some highlights were an outstanding 5 innings pitching stint by Bryce “BA” Fulton, who is really showing all why he is deservedly going to represent his state this year, and I am looking forward to seeing how far he develops this season as his outings to date have been Stellar. Fairly handy day with the bat too, picking up a couple of hits to boot. Dylan Duvals Scorcher down the third base line was memorable, and Mitch Booker is the Mr. BP(quiet achiever) adding another safe hit to his tally. Great Job behind the dish too by Todd and Mitch sharing the duties, and Congrats to Mitchell Mead who turned in a great performance at 2Nd Base, including one innings where he cleaned up all the opposition batters, finishing with a pearler of a play where he backed up and mopped up a ball that deflected off of Matt Scharenbergs glove and continued on to the base to put out the runner by a step. Another worthy mention was the fact that we had 8 out of 9 players between 2nd and 3rd bases, trying to gang tackle the runner in a run down play. Poor old Runner did not stand a chance. If we did not get him out legitimately, I am sure we were going to have a pile on somewhere to help him celebrate his baserunning “Whoopsy!”

  • 18-10-09

With some players already tasting the dust and sweat of a battle this season, for others it was the first hit-out in earnest. On paper we had a solid line up and did not forsee too many worries, but the Under 16 competiton this year promises to be a strange competiton. With the inception of the Little league concept, we faced a Kensington side that was predominantly a complete unit moved up from Under 14 grade, and had experienced success last year. Whilst they looked young, they proved to be capable in the early innings setting up a potentialy a tight tussle.

Nico Vanderlinden started off with a base on balls, then after receiving his signal from the coach he decided he would test the “run-down“ skills of the opposition when he broke extremely early for second and got trapped. Superior baserunning skills from him, a fair amount of tenacity to succeed and perhaps some rusty defensive execution saw him successfully move to second base, much to the amusement of all (except perhaps the coach). From there some great team hitting from James Batty to score him saw us gain a lead that was never headed.

Enter the defensive side (lead by Bryce “BA Baraccus”-AKA Mr T –Fulton) on to the diamond. Bryce will start to understand that his reputation will precede him and he will dominate, and he certainly displayed a fantastic effort here after some dubious calls from the umpire that were clearly strikes, and not called. Very little seemed to faze him on the day and I think we all saw the new and dramatically improved Bryce that will deliver some stellar outings this season. Finishing was Mr Reliable Dylan Duval who got down to business straight away and set them down with relative ease.

This was a great team effort to come away with a comfortable win in the end, with some highlights delivered by one of our latest recruits James Batty who caned the ball all day, and after asking the coach about possibly dropping down a running bunt, decided he would swing instead and scorched a ground rule double to left field. Coach’s tip James, when you can hit like that, perhaps we save the running bunt for a rainy day when things are perhaps not going so well. More highlights from one of the “Young-uns” Matt Scharenberg, who went within a whisker(or 6 feet) of hitting a maiden home run on the big diamond, and capped off a great day offfensively and defensively. Special mentions also to Alistair Foggarty who had his first start after relocating from NSW ,and Mens softball to play the “other round ball game”, Mitch Booker for his maiden hit in the grade and Mitchell Mead for the shortest 2 base hit I have ever seen. We are all still a little confused as to whether it was actually ever a fair ball (dropped by the catcher who never left the dirt around home plate). Again, with a mountain of talent and flexibility in this u16/u18 squad, I reckon this season is going to be a “Peach”.

Coach Mead Out!!