Big batting continues on local softball

WARRIORS v Millicent Bandits

Bandits are certainly the team to watch this season having recruited well, including old heads Dianne Horbury and Debra Hicks, although they were missing a few of their regulars, Chrystal Lock rallied her crew.

They have been dangerous with the bat and the weekend’s game was no different, Hicks drilled one to the fence but injury prevented her taking the bases she deserved.

In the first inning the tight Warriors defence started with Teresa Hatch taking a key catch at third then Sarah Polderman backhanded a Hicks laser at short.

Chantel Macdonald strode up and had a patient at bat before she lined one out to Linda Dodds at left.

A handy fill in for Bandits was Warriors own Taylor Pearson who put pressure on before Warriors pitcher Leyna Bruggemann lost control and hitting talented rookie Emilee Mitchell straight in the side with a 1-2 count.

Lock punished Bruggemann’s error, hitting one that got caught in the wind and bamboozled Maddy Bignell at centre.

They finished their offence with two which was equalled by Warriors, Mel Chuck showing great form with her first of three safe hits, getting the RBIs next to her name.

Natalie Whitehead led off for Bandits, smoking one into Bruggemann’s leg but was thrown out, the velocity of her hit was genuine.

Horbury, Hicks, Macdonald and Pearson were at it again, adding another three Bandits runs before the Warriors defence of Haley Lindner and Hatch shut down their streak.

Warriors were showing slickness with their relays which limited willy nilly extra bases.

Warriors hitting cranked up a gear with Bignell leading off with a team at bat base on balls, Jasmine Disselbach forced an error and showed extra leg speed, Bruggemann jagged a triple before being scored on a Hatch single to right.

Polderman and Chuck then smoked three baggers each and the runs were flowing.

Polderman took over the pitching duties and Bandits struggled for base runners with Polderman’s genuine pace not giving up any further safe hits, but also backed by great plays in the Warriors field.

Chuck moved to second base and had a heads up double play and Bignell was also attracting several ground balls with Disselbach showing off her long limbs on her takes at first.

Macdonald remained composed with her pitching but was up against it with Warriors bats being particularly hot, with Justine Koop and Polderman coming alive, and Chuck dominant, adding another triple.

They were picking out Whitehead as well as their usual teammate Kelly Doyle.

Doyle roamed the Bandits outfield and was wrapped to stay off her favourite head height pitches.

Daena Wombwell came into the game and had two safe hits, showing solid form as she prepares for the Mount Gambier’s representative team January campaign.

The score got away from Bandits in the end but the game was played with fun and good sportsmanship.

Concordes United v Demons

Round 5 saw Demons and Concordes United in the hot and windy conditions on Diamond 2.

Demons were first to the plate with Sharna Beck ready to start the line up off. Beck did her job and saw some pitches before getting struck out.

Kezia Feast followed her and was eager to start getting girls on base.

She hit a double bagger to centre field before being making it around the bases to home with a safe hit to right from Meg Merrett.

United’s centre and right field were keeping busy with safe hits from Simone Little and Steph Chant.

Demons ended their first offence with three runs.

Codie Jackway started the United batting line up with a ground ball to shortstop landing herself safe on first base.

Julie Beck was patient in the box and was rewarded with the first walk of the game.

Demons defence Sofie Morale was fast moving and stopped big batter Sarah Thomson in her tracks with a caught fly ball to right.

Behind the plate Merrett made the most of an attempted steal from Jackway and trust Little on third base made the tag out for Demons second out with no runs home.

Little held it together again in the field for Demons last out with Dana Jones hitting a foul fly in Littles direction.

With the score at 3-0 Demons way, United were keen to hold and get back into batting. With a K2, a fly catch to and a play from third to first they did just that and Demons walked away from the second with no runs.

Demons met the challenge of United and held them to no runs with two plays to second from Jones and Feast and a KC.

Leading off the inning was Feast with a crushed line drive to centre-right all the way to the fence for a home run.

Merrett made her way to first after a safe hit to McCallum at 3rd base, but was smart on the bases and took second after a wild throw to first.

Jones waited to get hers in the box and landed herself a walk before Steph Chant hit a ground to short stop leaving Demons loaded bases.

With some handy hitting and smart base running, the red and blue walked away from their third bat with five runs.

United found their batting groove in the bottom of third with safe hits from Jackway, Dana Jones and returning player Aimee Brooks.

They hit back putting four runs on the board. In the last dig for the day Merrett, Chant and Little hit the ball around Centre and Left while Sarah Dohnt earnt herself a walk after seeing multiple pitches.

However, two caught fly balls and an infield fly left Demons only taking away one run home off three safe hits.

Determined to keep their lead Demons faced the diamond one last time.

They started strong with caught fly at first and a nifty play at first from Dohnt and Hart.

Jackway was keen to keep the girls in and lessen the score and did just that with a double bagger to left field.

With errors in the field from left and short stop, United were on base with consisted Dana Jones up to bat who landed a safe hit to centrefield.

Billie Jones ended the game with a caught ball for the last out and time and game. Demons walked away with the win 9-6

Wanderers v Concordes White

Hot and windy conditions made the going tough for both Wanderers and Concordes White on the weekend playing in the heat of the day.

A quick three up three down in the first saw Concordes head back to the dug out scoreless with three comfortable defensive plays.

Wanderers on the other hand had their bats firing early with safe hits to Fiona Finch, Rej Smith, Leanne Little and a double to Skylie McLean finishing the first inning 4-0 up.

Much the same in the second with Concordes only runner reaching base on an error how ever still not posting any runs in reply.

Wanderers picked up another three to extend the lead to 7-0 through more safe hits from Finch, Moore, Leanne Little and McLean.

It was in the third that Concordes mounted a challenge by scoring five runs of their own through multiple walks and three singles to Long, Thompson and Banks.

Wanderers were able to strike back immediately, continually putting the pressure on forcing a bunch of errors in the field and with the safe hitting of Kaigg and Emily Little topping it off, it allowed the lead to extend back out to 12-5 at the end of the dig.

In the fourth a nice lead off double from Steicke gave Concordes a lift and were then able to score again, how ever it was the ever consistent pitching of Smith that was able to shut it down by only allowing the one run for the inning.

As per the story of the day, Wanderers continued to put the ball in to play piling on more pressure and adding a further five runs taking the score out to 17- 6.

Singles to Smith, McLean, Kaigg, Ghezzi and Emily Little finished off a strong hitting performance for the day.

Karly Pearson pitched admirably all day for Concordes whilst Smith through the entire game for Wanderers coming away with the win.

After five rounds all teams have now played each other once with this coming week’s games returning back where it all started in the opening round with Concordes White taking on Bandits and the Wanderers facing Concordes United.RESULTSWarriors 16 (Sarah Polderman, Mel Chuck 3; Justine Koop, Teresa Hatch, Daena Wombwell 2; Leyna Bruggemann) d Millicent Bandits 6 (Chantel Macdonald 2; Dianne Horbury, Debra Hicks, Taylor Pearson (fill-in), Chrystal Lock); Demons 9 (Meg Merrett 3; Simone Little, Steph Chant 2; Sharna Beck, Kezia Feast (HR)) d Concordes United 6 (Codie Jackway 3; Dana Jones 2; Leonie McCallum, Aimee Brooks); Wanderers 17 (Skylea McLean 3; Fiona Finch, Rej Smith, Leanne Little, Charli Kaigg, Emily Little 2; Jess Ghezzi) d Concordes White 6 (Pauline Long, Sarah Thomson (fill-in), Gabrielle Banks, Alana Steicke)