Baseballers turn back the clock

The 17th Annual Mount Gambier Baseball Masters is done and dusted.

Fine weather welcomed the six visiting and three local teams to Blue Lake Sports Park for two and a half days with each team playing four or five games depending on which division they participated in, including finals.

Away teams included Adelaide Aces, Adelaide L’aces, Northern Aces Blue and Grey from Adelaide, Diamond Dogs from Melbourne and Alfredton from Ballarat.

Local team were Misfits and two teams from the Mount Gambier Legends who were hosts of the carnival.

The nine teams were divided into two divisions each playing a full round robin series before running into a finals series of matches.

Two games were played on Friday night in front of a nice crowd who turned up to register for participation. Saturday was full on with games commencing at 8am.

Twelve games were played on two diamonds including for the second time with the Mount Gambier Softball Association granting permission to use one of their diamonds.

Placings in each division after the round robin were Division 1 Alfredton, Legends Blue, Misfits and Northern Aces Blue.

Division 2 saw Diamond Dogs on top followed by Adelaide Aces, Legends gold, Northern Aces Grey and the Lady Aces in fifth spot and out of the playoffs.

An early start on Sunday morning with Division 2 playing their final round robin games before heading into finals.

In the bronze medallion playoffs in Division 1 local team Misfits defeated Northern Aces Blue by a solitary run 7 runs to 6 while in Division 2 host club Legends Gold prevailed over Northern Aces Grey 15 runs to 8.

Both gold/silver finals were played on Diamond 1 in front of very good crowds with Division 2 kicking off first.

Diamond Dogs had too much fire power in the batting box for Adelaide Aces eventually defeating them in the 90 minute game 6 runs to 1.

The Division 1 game went the same way with Alfredton defeating Legends Blue winning 9 runs to 1 to take gold.

At the presentations held immediately after the last game, Mount Gambier Legends president Peter Walter thanked all those in attendance for their presence and for supporting the Annual Carnival.

Mr Walter also thanked all those who umpired and scored over the weekend and the many volunteers who had spent time in the canteen, bar and ground maintenance. He also thanked the tournament’s sponsors, in particular the City of Mount Gambier who have been involved from day one 18 years ago as has the club’s other sponsors in City of Mount Gambier, Bakers Delight, She’s Apples Market, Da’leni Meats, The South Eastern, Collins Court Butcher, Mount Gambier Frozen Foods, MT Water, Precision Security & Communications, Farmers Union Iced Coffee and Limestone Coast Timber Floors.