Wanderers keep season alive

WANDERERS V WARRIORS WHITE

The first game of the finals series saw Wanderers take on Warriors White in the do-or-die semi final.

Their games during the year have been competitive and with both teams missing key players it was going to be a test of endurance and fielding defence.

Wanderers started in the field with veteran Rej Smith on the mound and Jenna Burston led off for the Warriors bats but found Emily Little’s glove at third.

Dodds, Romaine, and Chant all singled with Chant bringing Dodds home before Mel Chuck doubled with a left field line drive bringing two more home.

Doyle found the glove of Clifford-Finch and was out at first followed closely by Taylor with a fly to speedy Fi Finch in the outfield.

Wanderers lead off batters Finch and Smith were out quickly sending flyballs into the safe gloves of Romaine and Dodds.

Clifford-Finch tripled but was left on base when Emily little found chants glove at third and sending wanderers back to field scoreless.

Wanderers retaliated with Disselbach and Castleman out quickly.

Burston and Dodds both singled before Romaine was out by Smith leaving runners on base.

Wanderers bat was a quick turnaround with Leanne Little out with a line drive straight back to Burston, with Lovekin and Kaigg out by Chant at third.

Chant and Chuck both singled and advanced to scoring positions on error with chant scoring on a pass balls.

Taylor found Emily Little at third but not before scoring Chuck.

Disselbach was out by line drive to Smith and Cattleman was struck out.

Beck was safe at first and stole second from a wild throw.

Finch doubled bringing Beck home and earning Wanderers first run of the day.

Smith singled to outfield and brought home Finch, Clifford-Finch was out at second then Emily Little brought home Smith.

Leanne Little was out popping a fly at catch before Frankenburg was safe in error and stole second and she was brought home by Chaplin who singled to leftfield.

Kaigg as struck out but not before Wanderers evened the score five-all at the bottom of the third innings. Burston doubled and Romaine was out with a fly to Finch but scored Burston.

Chant and Chuck singled but Chuck was put out at second and Taylor was struck out.

Beck was out by Burston, Finch and Smith singled and they were brought home by Clifford-Finch who singled to centrefield.

Emily Little was safe by error, Leanne Little doubled bringing home Clifford-Finch and putting Emily Little into a scoring position and then she came home with a sac fly by Frankenburg.

Chaplin was out by Burston but Wanderers took the lead 9-7 going into fifth innings.

Disselbach singled and Castleman walked and then Burston singled and Dodds was safe by fielders choice, but put Disselbach out at home.

Castleman was safe on a wild pitch and Chang brought home two with a single to centrefield.

Chuck and Doyle were both out finding the ever reliable finch gloves.

Warriors added three runs putting them one ahead.

Clifford-Finch was out, Emily Little was safe on error, Little and Frankenburg walked and then Chaplin advanced them with another single to left field.

Kaigg and Beck walked, Finch singled to outfield scoring runners, Smith and Clifford-Finch were out, with Wanderers extending the lead 14-11 going into the seventh innings.

Romaine singled, Chant was out at first but advanced Romaine and then Chuck was safe and in a scoring position.

Doyle was safe by choice and scored Romaine but Taylor and Chuck were out on a three then home double play ending the game with Wanderers keeping their seaosn alive with a 14 -12 victory.

DEMONS V BANDITS

Mackenzie Millard started the offence off with a safe hit to centre field as Demons and Bandits faced off to earn the first spot up for grabs in the grand final.

Chrystal Lock followed with a sacrifice bunt to move Millard to second.

Di Horbury hit the first pitch to Kezia Feast at third who made a play to first to get the second out before Montanna Millard hit to Cody Manning at shortstop who made the same play to score the third out.

Bandits scored Millard to put one run on the board.

Demons started at bat with Em Hart and Simone Little who both hit safe to the outfield.

Manning’s bat was caught by Millard who is a force in the outfield and she played third after her catch to get Hart out with a tag from Horbury.

Bandits got the last out from a caught foul fly from Montanna at the plate and held Demons at no score.

Demons was a tight on the field in the second as they were in the first and got three out in four batters.

Emilee Mitchell hit to Manning for an out at one, before Kylie Cook hit a double bagger to left field.

Deb Hicks, known for her hard hitting to third, did exactly that but Feast fielded the ball clean for the second out at first.

With a slight confusion in batting line up, Chantel MacDonald faced the plate and Hart got her first K2 for the game to end the innings. Bandits scored no runs.

Bandits were just as strong on the diamond in the bottom of the second innings.

Feast started the line up and landed herself on first with an error from third, however, it was short lived after she read a signal from her base coach wrong and ended up being the second out after a fly ball from Morale was caught.

Katelyn Laube and Chelsea Feast both hit safe to the outfield before Laube was tagged out a third on a steal and Bandits again held Demons at no score.

Nat Whitehead was patient at the plate and earnt the first walk of the game.

Ranger hit to Manning who played a fielders choice to second to get the lead runner.

Lock hit a fly ball to Smith at centre who almost caught it in her underarm but still made the out.

Horbury hit a double bagger, before Millard was caught on a foul fly by Hart but Bandits did put another run on the board.

The bottom of the third, was the first time Demons added runs to the scoreboard.

Smith and Hart landed on bases and Little came up and placed the perfect bunt down first base line to score Smith before Manning sent one over the fence for an out of the diamond home run – the first one this season – and Demons scored four runs.

In the top of the fourth, Manning threw two K2s and a fly out by Morale at first ended the innings with no runs scored.

Montanna came on to pitch and started strong with a K2 before Smith earnt herself a walk, Cook caught Hart out on a fly ball to shortstop before Manning and Little hit safe to outfield.

Merrett was caught out on a fly to first and Demons added another one to the scoreboard.

In the final innings of the day, Mackenzie laid down a bunt which landed her speedy legs on third.

Merrett redeemed herself in the field and caught Lock on a foul fly and Horbury walked to one.

Hart and Manning made a play at the plate when Rang tried to steal on a passed ball and a K2 from Manning ended the innings with no further runs from Bandits.

In true Demons style, the Dees capitalised with two outs.

Three safe hits from the girls and taking advantage of fielding errors the red and blue added six to the board.

The mercy rule was applied and the Demons, with that 11-2 scoreline, found themselves straight into the grand final.

SEMI FINAL RESULTS

Wanderers 14 (Fiona Finch 4; Rej Smith, Lily Clifford-Finch, Kat Chaplin 2; Emily Little, Leanne Little) d Warriors White 12 (Jenna Burston, Steph Chant 4; Mel Chuck 3; Linda Dodds, Alana Romaine 2 Jasmine Disselbach); Demons 11 (Simone Little and Cody Manning 3; Kezia Feast, Em Hart, Chelsea Feast, Krissie Smith, Bella Morale, Katelyn Laube) d Bandits 2 (Kylie Cook 2; Montanna Millard, Di Horbury, Mackenzie Millard)