Mercy rule victory for Central

CENTRAL V SOUTH INDIANS

Central defeated South Indians in their Division 1 baseball game at Blue Lake Sports Park in the first of the two games played.

After South was unable to put any runs on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning Central went straight on the attack adding four in the bottom of the inning.

Lead off batter Jobe Harten, aboard on a wild throw from short stop, then consecutive safe hits to Dave Harris, Dylan Chuck and Alex Ridding saw Chuck bat in Harten, Ridding’s two bagger allowing Harris to score, Dylan Gull’s sacrifice fly to rightfield batted in Chuck and Patrick O’Hehir’s sac fly saw Ridding home.

Alex Ridding picked off another two bagger in the even third and was batted with another sac fly from Colby Muller. The black and white leading five runs to nil. In the bottom of the fifth they doubled their score.

Dylan Chuck on board after picking a base on ball, a single from Alex Ridding, a double from Dylan Gull which scored both Chuck and Ridding, a triple from Colby Muller which scored Gull, a double from Sam Ruwoldt which scored Muller and finally Cooper Smith’s hit into a fielder’s choice scored Ruwoldt. The lead blowing out to 10 runs and in mercy rule territory.

The Indians were finally on the board in the top of the sixth.

Brad Walkom hit safely to leftfield, Zac Ratcliffe dropped at rightfield, Brent Masterman singled to rightfield scoring Walkom with both Ratcliffe and Masterman crossing home on fielder’s choices to temporarily halt the mercy rule being invoked.

Only temporarily though as South failed to add to their score in the seventh whilst Central added the requisite three runs.

Colby Muller doubled to rightfield and was batted in by Patrick O’Hehir, then a pitching lapse with the next three batters receiving base on balls Sam Ruwoldt, Cooper Smith and Kyle McClean with McClean’s free base pushing home O’Hehir, and Ruwoldt crossing home plate on Dave Harris’ hit to rightfield with game being called with the mercy rule in play.

Central had 12 safe hits, 5 base on ball, 13 runs batted in, 3 strikeouts and made 2 errors. South Indians had 4 safe hits, 2 base on ball, 3 runs batted in, 8 strikeouts, and made 3 errors.TIGERS V MILLICENT

Tigers held sway in the late game in Division 1 baseball at Blue Lake Sports Park Saturday afternoon.

Batting in the bottom half of the first inning, lead off batter Riley Parsons picked a base on ball, Jake England’s sacrifice flyball to leftfield scored Parsons, Matt Thompson’s hit into the infield resulted in an error, Joe Sims pumped a standup double to centefield which saw Thomson cross for their second run and Sims scored on Koby Stratman’s Texas Leaguer to leftfield for their third of the opening inning.

The orange and black added five more in the next to lead by eight.

Cooper Pitkin picked a walk, Jake England hit safely to centerfield, Matt Thompson blasted a long hit to centerfield for a triple scoring both Pitkin and England, Joe Sims’ hit to third base created a wild throw which scored Thompson, Pat Kermond was thrown a walk and both he and Thompson crossed home on wild pitches from some untidy pitching from the hill.

The Bandits fought back in the top of the third adding four to the scoreboard.

Dave Langley hit safely to leftfield, Darcy Pink at first on an infield error, Jordan Johnson clobbered a single to centerfield, Anthony Mutton hit to shortstop was errored scoring Langley and Pink, Johnson scored on a wild throw and Mutton scored on a wild pitch before Tigers were able to curb their errors and close down the inning. Tigers added another five in the even inning.

Riley Parsons hit cleanly to centerfield for a double, Cooper Pitkin followed with a single to leftfield, Parsons crossed home on a wild pitch, Matt Thompson was hit by a pitched ball, as was Joe Sims, Pat Kermond crunched a safety to leftfield scoring both Pitkin and Thompson and Cameron Scott finished with a deep hit to centerfield scoring both Sims and Kermond with Tigers now in sight of the two hour mercy rule.

This they achieved in the fourth after Millicent failed to add to their score. Lax pitching saw Cooper Pitkin and Jake England walked, Matt Thompson hit by a pitched ball loading the bases, Joe Sims hit into a fielder’s choice which resulted in a fine double play by the Bandits but wasn’t enough to stop Pitkin scoring for the mercy rule to be invoked.

Tigers had 9 safe hits, 9 base on ball, 4 hit batters, 10 runs batted in, 3 strikeouts and made 5 errors. Millicent had 4 safe hits, I base on ball, 6 strikeouts and made 4 errors.RESULTS

DIVISION 1

Central 13 (Alex Ridding 3, Dave Harris, Dylan Chuck, Colby Muller 2, Kyall McClean, Dylan Gull, Sam Ruwoldt) d South Indians 3 (Ryan Placucci, Brad Walkom, Zac Ratcliffe, Brent Masterman); Tigers 14 (Pat Kermond 2, Riley Parsons, Cooper Pitkin, Jake England, Matt Thompson, Joe Sims, Koby Stratman, Cameron Scott) d Millicent 4 (Darcy Pink, Jordan Johnson, Phil Altschwager, David Langley)

DIVISION 2

Federal 22 (Hamish Thompson, Michael Kreplins 4, Talyssia Esufali 3, Brady Chaffey, Simon Wright, Dean Searcy 2, Andrew Hughes, John McAdam, Mason Galway) d Central Magpies 3 (David Delaland 2 Alan Crouch, Terry Wilson, Ben Johnson, Chris Trevenar); Tigers 10 (Cooper Pitkin 3, Phil Clark, Dave Pitkin, Flynn Hillstone 2, Michael Hillstone, John Verrity, Paul Falland, Kaelen mee, Joe Sims) d Central 5 (Shane Frankenburg 3, Anthony Ridding 2, David Chuck, Brenton Lockwood)

BIG LEAGUE

South Indians 6 (Levi Seager, Charlie Clark, Amelia Ireland, Phoenix Cole, Bradley Meek, Jett Lewis, Jakob Walkom, Ryan Meek, Brad Walkom, Eli Thorne) d Central 5 (Daniel Ferguson, Samuel Ruwoldt, Harvey Dowdell)

JUNIOR LEAGUE

Central 10 (Jack Odgers) d South/Federal 2 (Banjo Cannon, Jett Roberts, Memphis Pearce, Jack Freckleton, Drayven Allyen)

LITTLE LEAGUE

South Indians 5 (William Walkom) d Central 2

MINOR LEAGUE

Tigers Black 5 (Jax Sargeant, Hayden Bowley, Hunter Livingston, Spencer Coppe 2, Digby Newman) d Tigers 1 (Blake Humphries 2, Oliver Sims); Central 11 (Will Mitchell 2) d Federal 2