Demons earn one more crack at Warriors

The two grand finaliss from last season faced off in the weekend’s preliminary final to earn tha chance to take on Warriors in the 2023/24 season title decider.

United started at the bat and lead off with powerhouse hitter Dana Jones.

She met her match with Demons star Cody Manning with a caught fly ball at shortstop.

Julie Beck faced the plate next and also met the force of Manning with a fielded ball and an out at first base.

Country Championship captain Codie Jackway was ready get United on base and she did just that with a double bagger to centerfield.

Humble but fierce batter Leonie McCallum was the fourth batter to face Demons pitcher Billie Jones and hit a fly ball to left field which was caught by the ever-reliable Steph Chant, champion of fly balls. United finished the first innings with no runs scored.

Demons started their batting line up off with Em Hart who hit a single to left field.

She was followed by Sarah McInerney, who was Demons best on bat the previous weekend in the semi after scoring two safehits and two out of their four run score.

McInerney hit a ground ball to McCallum at third but was misfielded and she landed herself on first base.

Big batter Manning faced the plate next and landed a double to left field, scoring McInerney home at the plate for Demons first run.

In the battle of the Jones sisters, Billie faced her sister Dana at the plate and was called out after a dropped third strike and the out at first.

With two outs, coach Feast faced the plate eager to keep her team in the innings.

She landed a safehit to shortstop and scored Manning home for Demons second run.

Meg Merrett was the last Demon to bat in the first and met the heat of Dana Jones getting a K2.

Sarah Thomson, who recorded five safehits in the semis, landed herself on first base and started the innings for United.

Bec White and Dana Jones scoring safehits throughout the innings to move runners around bases and score their team three runs, putting United on the board.

Jackway was hot behind the plate for the day catching two foul fly balls, with Simone Little being the first.

Steph Chant hit a ripper single to centerfield for her first bat of the day, followed by two more safe singles from Hart and McInerney.

Manning unintentionally hit what some may have called a bunt straight back to Jones on the mound, but a slight fumble and Manning’s fast feet she landed herself on first base.

Billie Jones was patient at the plate and earnt herself Demons first walk for the day before things ended up 5-3 in Demons favour.

United were hungry to score again in the third and keep the pressure on Demons.

Jones and Thomson had safehit singles and White pulled a double safe hit to centerfield.

Two fly balls caught by Billie Jones and Chant and an infield field ended United’s innings with another three on the board.

United backed up their disciplined batting with a strong defence.

Jackway got her second foul fly for the day in Merrett, while Sofie Morale and Hart couldn’t get their fly balls passed Dianne Wilson in left and at the bottom of the third it was United by one.

The fourth innings was tight, both teams knew they were over the halfway mark but had a lot of game left to dig deep and progress scores.

Billie Jones struck out two batters at the plate and pick up from Feast at third and play to Merrett at first was the three outs Demons needed for solid defensive dig, only allowing Jackway to make it all the way around the diamond.

United matched the heat as Demons brought five batters to the plate – a caught fly, a K2 and a play from Allana Feast at shortstop to first meant three outs for Demons with strong base runner McInerney being Demons only score for the dig after a three base safehit from east to bring her home.

With one run for both teams in the fourth innings, the score was United 7 to Demons 6.

United entered the fifth starting off Allana Feast at the plate who was coming off an injury.

Feast hit a ball to Manning at shortstop and landed herself safely at first base but she was the only batter to make it on base.

The next three batters were held to a stop with Merrett at first catching a foul fly, another caught fly from Manning and short and a K2 from Jones at the mound for the third out.

Demons were looking to make moves with the end of the game nearing and after a five safehit innings they were able to put another three runs on the board taking back the lead by two runs after being down since the second.

Both teams were unable to score in the sixth innings – teams meant business and the defence from both teams was too strong to allow any runners home.

Entering the 7th and final innings Demons knew they were up and just had to compose themselves during United’s last offensive dig.

A caught line drive to Feast at third, a caught fly to Chant at left and a KC at the plate with no runs scored home meant Demons took away the win with a two run lead, advancing to the grand final and another date with Warriors.