Central & Federal dominate Division 1 baseball action

South fielded a very young team in Friday night’s 2nd round clash with ladder leader Central but fought on bravely.

Scoring two runs in the bottom of the first dig after two base on ball and a double from Alex Ridding from young Indians pitcher Deegan Habner, the Magpies were on the board with two runners crossing the plate.

Central piled on the runs in the third adding five as they batted through the line-up. Singles to Nathan Meinck, Dylan Chuck and Alex Ridding followed by two more walks added to South’s misery.

Two more runs were added in the fourth inning.

With a change of pitchers, coach Ryan Placucci bringing himself to the hill, Nathan Meinck added another single to his batting stats and scored on Dylan Chuck’s triple to deep centrefield.

He subsequently crossed homeplate on Alex Ridding’s sacrifice fly also to centrefield. South hit the scoreboard in the top of the fifth when Ryan Walter doubled to leftfield and scored on Tarkyn Morale’s hit into an infield error.

The Maggies batters crushed the ball into mercy rule territory in the bottom of the fifth forcing five more runners across the plate. Colby Muller singled and Josh Chuck hit into another error from the infield.

A light bulb moment for the Indians with the next two batters sent back to the dugout without getting wood on the ball leaving two on bases.

Not to be outdone, Central fought back with Dave Harris loading the bases with a single, Dylan Gull watching four balls go by scoring Muller then Dylan Chuck stepped up to the plate and hit his third safehit for the game scoring all three runners.

Alex Ridding also batted 1000 when his third hit for the night landed safe scoring Chuck before the side was retired.

South doubled their score in the top of the sixth when Blake McAdam found himself at first after an infield error at shortstop and he crossed the homeplate when Brandon Horrigan’s Texas leaguer to centrefield fell short of the fielder.

With two hours played and South behind by at least 10 runs the mercy rule was invoked by umpire Graham Thompson.

Federal leadoff batter Nash Lobley picked a walk and became the first run of the game when he was batted in by Alex Reppin on Saturday afternoon.

Tigers Patrick Kermond tied the game in the bottom of the second when he crossed the plate on a fielder’s choice.

Top of the third and former Tigers Riley Rolph and Alex Reppin both on base and both batted in by Clay Carpenter’s hit to rightfield.

Again in the bottom of the inning Tigers fought back to tie the game once more with both Ben Marcus and Matt Thompson reaching homeplate.

The Demons pushed ahead in the fourth.

Dean Searcy was hit by the pitcher, Nash Lobley on base after a wild throw and Riley Rolph was also hit by a pitched ball with all three scoring to give them a lead of three runs.

Two more in the fifth for Federal after Dean Searcy walked and Nash Lobley found himself again on base from a fielder’s choice, Searcy scoring with bases loaded from a walk by Matt Nicholls and Lobley batted in by Craig Nicholls.

Federals increased the pain on the Tigers defence adding another three runs in the top of the seventh. Riley Rolph singled to centrefield and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

Alex Reppin singled, also to centrefield and Matt Nicholls drew a base on ball.

They were both batted in by Craig Nicholls giving Federal an 11 run to three margin.

At the top of the ninth Federal finally put the game out of the Tigers reach.

Alex Reppin singled, Matt Nicholls was hit by a pitched ball, Craig Nicholls Texas Leaguer scored Reppin, Shujat Esufali hit into an error to again load the bases.

Jordan Johnson was also hit with a pitched ball which pushed Matt Nicholls across the dish.

Dean Searcy hit the ball into play to score Craig Nicholls and Nash Lobley’s safe-hit to leftfield scored Esufali and Johnson.

Searcy scored the eighth run of the inning on a wild pitch before the inning was wrapped up.

Tigers tried valiantly to cut the margin in the bottom of the final dig. Harrison Elletson hit safely to centrefield and Ben Marcus watched four balls go by before walking to first.

Elletson scored on Kane Harrison’s hit to leftfield and Marcus crossed on Kaleb Kermond’s sacrifice fly to rightfield before the third and last out of the night was achieved giving the win to Federal 19 runs to 5.

RESULTS
DIVISION 1
Central 15 (Dylan Chuck, Alex Ridding 3 (both batted 1000), Nathan Meinck 2, Dave Harris, Koby Chant, Colby Muller, Mitchell Ruwoldt) d South Indians 2 (Jett Lewis, Ryan Walter, Brandon Horrigan)

Federal 19 (Craig Nicholls 4, Alex Reppin 3, Matt Nicholls 2, Nash Lobley, Riley Rolph, Clay Carpenter, Jordan Johnson) d Tigers 5 (Patrick Kermond 3, Harrison Elletson 2, Ben Marcus, Kane Harrison, Matt Thompson, Jarvi Mee, Joe Sims)

DIVISION 2
South Indians 7 (Zac Ratcliffe 2, Bradley Meek, Wade Chant, Ollie Rowe, Cameron Beale, Nate Habner, Deegan Habner) d Federal 5 (Shane Howard 2, Dean Searcy, Andrew Dent, Shujat Esufali, Hamish Thompson, Michael Kreplins)

DIVISION 3
Central 11 (Ben Green, Steve Kuhl 2, Lachlan Ridding, Dean Cutting, David Chant, Chris Tzioutziouklaris, Brenton Lockwood) d Central Magpies ( Mitchell Ruwoldt 3, Andrew Hoath, Zac Winkler, Dave Delaland 2, Alan Crouch, Daniel Kovaleff, Zeth Kovaleff, Paul Klaassens, Bill Stephenson) South Indians 14 (Ken Rowe, Steve Lewis, Jason Henke 2, Kevin Joyce, Darren Cole) d Tigers 1 (Tony Elletson, John Verrity 3, Marcus Thomson, Darcy Perry, David White 2, Harrison Elletson, Phil Clark)

BIG LEAGUE
Central 13 (Bree Ridding 2, Brad Walkom, Daniel Ferguson, Mitchell Ruwoldt, Sam Ruwoldt, Jakob Walkom) d South Indians 2 (Nate Habner, Bradley Meek)

JUNIOR LEAGUE
Tigers 11 (Titan Dumigan, Sam Marcus, Atticus Mutton 2, Ben Reichelt, Jesse DeKoning, Alfie Merchant, Jett Lennon) d South/ Federal 10 (Louie Vincent, Memphis Pearce 3, Phoenix Cole, Draven Allen 1 Central 11 (Jakob Walkom 2, Jobe Lynagh, Will Walkom) d South/Federal 2 (Amelia Ireland 2, Memphis Pearce, Lincoln Ratcliffe, Phoenix Cole)

LITTLE LEAGUE
Central 15 (Oliver June, Will Walkom 2, Connor Ruwoldt, Jobe Lynagh, Kye Wren Mitchell, Jack Odgers, Angus Powell, Darcy Wurst) d Federal/Tigers 3 (Oliver Bramley, Hunter Wyatt, Dylan Simpson)

MINOR LEAGUE
Central 10 (Levi Fisher 2, Jed Cutting, Jenson Summers, Ethan Albert) d Federal 7 (Banjo Cannon 2, Quinton Bramley, Jack Freckleton)