ROB’S RECAP - STATE LEAGUE DIVISION 1 - ROUND 5

BASEBALL (November 9, 2024)

SENATORS REBOUND

By Robert Laidlaw

WOODVILLE RESPONDED TO THE previous week’s big loss to Southern Districts with a nail-biting 3-2 victory over Henley & Grange at West Beach Parks, in division one baseball.

The Senators were able to ride out some good pitching to keep the Rams’ batters in check, while inching out a 3-0 lead over the game’s first six innings.

It looked like Woodville would score in the first frame, when Cesar Perez walked and Wade Moore hit a long double to leftfield, but Boston Hodge’s throw from near the fence was cut off and relayed home for an out at the plate in a close play.

In the second dig Troy Nicholson walked, Joe Papps bunted and Breandan Taheny had a RBI single to give the Senators a 1-0 lead, which was doubled in the next inning, when Drew Janssen singled, Moore bunted and a balk saw Janssen trot home.

With Henley still unable to break through, Woodville made it 3-0 in the sixth frame, when Nicholson and Oliver Hayes collected hits and a wild throw saw Nicholson home.

AJ Verastegui was well on top from the mound, conceding two hits for seven strikeouts in six digs.

A change of pitchers by Woodville worked for the Rams, when they scored twice at the top of the eighth, on Yoki Yonezawa’s two-run single, after two free passes.

Another pitching change saw Drew Janssen throw the game’s final 1.2 innings, for one hit and four strikeouts, to preserve the victory.

STARTING HIS FIRST GAME for Gawler Rangers, Taka Homma pitched eight stunning innings to help his side beat Glenelg 2-0 at Karbeethan Reserve.

Homma, used in relief previously, gave up two hits for six strikeouts and no walks in his eight frames, throwing 79 pitches, 64 for strikes.

Both of Glenelg’s hits against Homma resulted in outs at second base, on a double play and caught stealing, with just one runner over the minimum faced (25), which was the result of a batter reaching on an error.

The Rangers opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth dig, when Dylan Child singled, and after two outs, an error set up Ethan Badcock’s RBI hit.

An inning later, Zac Heintze-Unger singled, stole second base and scored on Aidan Prokopec’s hit up the middle, for a 2-0 lead, which held up the rest of the way.

There were some anxious moments for the Rangers when Glenelg loaded the bases at the top of the ninth against Gawler reliever Seb Heintze-Unger, but he rose to the challenge and extinguished the threat with a soft grounder.

For Glenelg, starting pitcher Jayden Eldridge conceded seven hits for nine K2s in five digs, while reliever Carson Angeroth struck out five for one hit in three frames.

IN A TIGHT GAME, Southern Districts managed to respond after losing the lead, beating Adelaide 4-2 at Plympton in an exciting clash.

The Hawks took the early lead with a run at the top of the second inning, after hits to Tomoya Kamakani and Byron Turner.

That 1-0 advantage held up until the bottom of the fifth frame, when the Angels managed to tie up the scores when Billy Damon doubled, went to third base on a wild pitch and came home on Rahman Martinez’s sacrifice fly.

In the bottom of the seventh dig Adelaide hit the front, when Stefan Welch doubled, and after a pair of strikeouts, came home on Martinez’s single to rightfield – 2-1 the Angels.

Then in the top of the eighth dig, a pair of walks to Drew Davies and Nic Paparella were crucial for South, with Kamakani’s big double plating both, for a 3-2 lead.

Jake Campbell hit a RBI double at the top of the ninth for some insurance, as the Hawks held on.

Kamakani pitched eight innings for the win, conceding five hits for eighth strikeouts, while Adelaide starter Hugh Batchelor kept his side in the game early, conceding two hits in six frames for eight K2s.

GOODWOOD ALMOST PULLED OFF the upset of the season, before going down 4-2 to West Torrens at Mortlock Park.

In the bottom of the third frame, the Indians broke open a scoreless contest when Brodie Heeps doubled and came home on Billy Sutton’s hit up the middle.

Three walks and a wild pitch accounted for the Eagles’ first run at the top of the sixth dig, but Goodwood came straight back with a run in the bottom of the inning, Heeps walked, stole second base and scored on an error – 2-1 the Indians.

A speedy Nick George then tied the scores at 2-2 for West Torrens, when he waked, stole two bases and came home on an error at the top of the seventh.

With neither side able to dominant with the bat, the Eagles manufactured two runs at the top of the eighth to win the game.

Mason Clavell singled, Jacob Scott reached on an error, Nico Vanderlinden grounded into a fielder’s choice, Nat Vanderlinden hit a sac fly, and a wild pitch brought in the final run of the game.

PORT ADELAIDE WAS ABLE to score more consistently to beat East Torrens 8-3 at Payneham.

The Redsox opened the scoring in the bottom of the first frame, when Carter Powell was hit by a pitch, stole second base, went to third on a wild pitch and came home on Jay Sanderson sac fly, 1-0 East Torrens.

At the top of the third inning the Magpies struck, with three runs, Nick Vasic hitting a RBI single and Dayton Mitchell plating two runs with his hit to leftfield.

In the fourth Port scored a run after two walks and an error, while in the bottom of the dig for the Redsox, infield hits to Aiden Lucas and Kason King set up Zac Stroud’s RBI fielder’s choice grounder, to make it 4-2 the Magpies.

When East Torrens scored a run in the bottom of the fifth frame, after hits to Powell and Sanderson, and an error, the Redsox were just one run in arrears.

But that was all she wrote for East Torrens’ scoring, as Port kept the pressure on, with a run in the seventh (doubles to Brodie Arriola and Mitchell), two in the eighth (Arriola’s two-run double) and one in the ninth (Mitchell’s home run) to be 8-3 victors.

Sammy Steigert came on to the mound in relief for Port and threw 7.2 innings for four hits and five strikeouts to claim the win.

GOLDEN GROVE CENTRAL DISTRICTS struck early and held sway the rest of the way to beat Northern Districts 16-1 at Ilyarrie Reserve.

Consecutive hits to Noah Rodgers, Daniel Youngblood, Jake Shotton and Kynan Skein, and a sac fly to Adrian Chenoweth, in the bottom of the opening inning saw the Dodgers 4-0 up.

The Reds managed a run at the top of the second, when Nick Clifton walked, Steven Matulic doubled and Todd Marshall hit a sac fly.

But the Dodgers responded with three runs in the bottom of the second, on Shotton’s two-run double and Skein’s RBI single.

Then in the fifth dig, hits to Chenoweth, Tyler Green, Rodgers and Shotton (two RBIs), saw another five runs and a 12-1 advantage, while in the sixth, Tom Walsh had a RBI double and Youngblood smashed a two-run dinger.

Dodgers’ starter Cameron O’Reilly pitched 4.2 innings for five hits and six K2s, while John Inglis in relief threw 2.1 frames for one hit and four K2s.

STURT HAD ANOTHER HUGE WIN, beating Kensington 16-1 at Erindale, to further boost its percentage.

After four innings the Saints were just 2-0 up, after Mitch Lightbody doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the third, and Blake Farr singled, went to third on Sonny Beaumont’s two-bagger and came home on Simon Adkins’ groundout in the fourth.

But a nine-run fifth dig blew the game wide open, helped by six walks, a hit batsman, Beaumont’s two-run single and Jordan McArdle’s three-run dinger.

Then in the sixth, another six walks combined with Farr’s two-run double and Beaumont RBI single for another five runs and a 16-0 lead.

Kensington finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh when Michael Biship smashed a long home run.

Damon Arnold pitched six innings for the win, conceding two hits for 11 strikeouts.

* * * * *

Division one baseball results:

Woodville d Henley & Grange 3-2 (hits: Woodville – Perez, Janssen, Moore, T. Nicholson, Hayes, Taheny; H&G – Lee 2, Yonezawa. WP: AJ Verastegui; LP: J. Grose).

Gawler Rangers d Glenelg 2-0 (hits: Gawler – Chid 2, Okeil 2, Z. Heinze-Unger, Prokopec, Renken, Badcock; Glenelg – Huttunen, Burnside, Ross. WP: T. Homma; LP: J. Eldridge).

Sturt d Kensington 16-1 (hits: Sturt – Farr 3, Beaumont 3, Lightbody 2, McArdle 2 (hr), Adkins, Altamura; Kensington – Bishop (hr), J. Platten, T. Butterwick. WP: D. Arnold; LP: K. Miura).

Southern Districts d Adelaide 4-2 (hits: South – Kamakani 2, Turner 2, Campbell; Adelaide – Forney 2, Welch, Damon, Martinez. WP: T. Kamakani; LP: B. Damon).

West Torrens d Goodwood 4-2 (hits: WT – Clavell, Na. Vanderlinden; Goodwood – Sutton 3, Heeps, Pratt. WP: J. Chapman; LP: D. Fidge).

Golden Grove Central Districts d Northern Districts 16-1 (hits: GGCD – Youngblood 3 (hr), Shotton 3, Green 3, Rodgers 2, Skein 2, A. Chenoweth, Walsh; North – Lees 2, Clifton, Matulic, Whelan, Dziego. WP: C. O’Reilly; LP: A. Dominguez).

Port Adelaide d East Torrens 8-3 (hits: Port – Steigert 4, Mitchell 3 (hr), Arriola 2, Vasic, Murphy; ET – Powell, Sanderson, Lucas, King. WP: S. Steigert; LP: J. Ard).

Premiership points: Sturt 10, Woodville 8, West Torrens 8, Gawler Rangers 6, Southern Districts 6, Port Adelaide 6, East Torrens 6, Henley & Grange 6, GGCD 4, Adelaide 4, Glenelg 2, Kensington 2, Goodwood 2, Northern Districts 0.