ROBS RECAPS - STATE LEAGUE D1 - ROUND 12
BASEBALL (January 11, 2025)
BRILLIANT BATTLE GOES SOUTH
By Robert Laidlaw [Adelaide v Woodville photos from Paul Taeuber]
IN ONE OF THE BEST PITCHED BATTLES of the season, Southern Districts triumphed 3-0 over Port Adelaide in division one baseball at Christie Beach.
Both starters were magnificent, with the Hawks’ Tomoya Kawakami out duelling Port’s Sammy Steigert.
Kawakami retired the first 18 batters he faced, pitching a perfect game up to Steigert collecting a lead-off hit at the top of the seventh frame – he finished with a two-hitter over the nine digs for six K2s, facing just 30 batters.
As for Steigert, in seven innings he conceded five hits for nine strikeouts, in an outing that would normally be attached to a victory.
South broke the scoreless deadlock in the bottom of the sixth frame, when, with two out, Brett Hattersley smashed a home run over the centrefield fence, which was followed by a Kawakami double and Ben Short’s RBI single, for a 2-0 lead.
And in the Hawks’ final at bat in the bottom of the eighth, Hattersley picked a two-out walk, which was followed by Kawakami’s double, with a run scoring on an error, for a 3-0 buffer.
In the field South rightfielder Byron Turner had an impact with six catches in support of Kawakami.
IN A GAME THAT WENT DOWN to the wire, Gawler Rangers triumphed 3-2 over Golden Grove Central Districts at Karbeethan Reserve, in a 10-inning thriller.
This was a game where again the main story was the starting pitching, with Gawler’s Seb Heintze-Unger (six innings, four hits and four K2s) and the Dodgers’ John Inglis (eight digs, five hits and 13 K2s) were engaged in a tight duel.
It didn’t take long for the Rangers to hit the scoreboard, when, in the bottom of the opening inning, Zac Heintze-Unger walked and stole second base, went to third on Aidan Prokopec’s infield hit and came home on Dylan Child’s single to leftfield.
But that 1-0 scoreline remained until the top of the ninth and final regulation frame, where the Dodgers squared the ledger with a run, after Daniel Youngblood hit and came charging home on Matt Phillips’ two-out single.
When the next two Dodgers were hit by pitches, the bases were loaded and it looked like Gawler was in jeopardy of losing its second consecutive game after leading until the final dig. But the Rangers were able to get out of the jam.
After Gawler failed to answer in the bottom of the ninth, extra innings were required. With textbook baseball, the Dodgers scored the go-ahead run, after Noah Rodgers was placed on second base, Nick Wallis bunted him to third and Tom Walsh hit a sac fly.
The Rangers still had to bat in the bottom of the 10th, but all the momentum had swung towards the Dodgers.
Ethan Badcock, who had pitched the top of the 10th and was in the chair as either the winning or losing pitcher, was the placed runner at second base.
Zak Heintze-Unger was hit by a pitch, and a pair of wild throws amazingly tied up the game, and Zac was on third base with none out.
Up to the plate stepped Nathan Schreier, and with his long flyout to centrefield, scored the winning run in one of the most exciting finishes to a Gawler game since it entered division one company.
IT WAS CLOSE EARLY but consistent batting helped Henley & Grange overcome Glenelg 8-2 at Glenelg.
The Tigers took the early lead with two runs in the bottom of the second dig, after infield hits to Ky Reid and Elliott Ross, Connor Hill was hit by a pitch, and, after a pitching change, Alex Steff was also hit by a pitch, which forced in a run, and then Jaikob Mathews was walked for a second run, and a 2-0 lead.
It didn’t take the Rams long to respond, when at the top of the third inning, Lou Helmig smashed a dinger, and after Wilson Lee singled and stole second base, he scored on Koki Yonezawa’s double to tie up the ballgame 2-2.
Then in the fourth frame, hits to Jack Partington and Lee, combined with a pair of errors, saw two more runs and Henley led 4-2.
That 4-2 scoreline remained until the top of the seventh, when Liam Bull belted a homer, then in the eighth, doubles by Luke Trevaskis and Helmig were key in two further runs and a 7-2 lead.
In the ninth frame, Patrick Inglis collected his fourth hit of the game, a RBI single, to lead the Rams’ batting.
Wilson Lee came onto the mound in the second dig did and pitched seven innings for the win, conceding just one hit for five strikeouts.
WEST TORRENS USED LONG BALL POWER to destroy East Torrens 21-4 at Lockleys, with a nine-run fourth inning setting the foundation of the huge win.
And the main architect of the demolition was Mason Clavell, who smashed three of the Eagles’ five home runs in the game.
In the bottom of the opening frame West Torrens led 3-0, after Clavell’s first dinger, and hits to Tom McGarry, Jacob Scott and Ryan Broome.
Then at the top of the second dig it looked like game on, as the Redsox scored four runs, on a Charlie Ashcroft solo homer and, after two hit batsmen, a three-run bomb by Jude Ard, for a 4-3 advantage.
But that was ‘all she wrote’ for East Torrens, as the Eagles’ batting machine hit top gear. First in the bottom of the second, Sam McGarry had a RBI double and Clavell smashed a two-run home run, for a 6-4 lead.
Then the game-defining nine-run fourth, which was built on five walks, a hit batsman, two hits to Tom McGarry, and further hits to Sam McGarry, Nico Vanderlinden, and Clavell, to make the score 15-4.
In the fifth Oscar Weber hit a solo blast, Nico Vanderlinden doubled, and Clavell did it again, putting the ball over the fence for the third time, as the Eagles went 19-4 up. Jude Barker added the cream on top with a two-run dinger in the Eagles’ final batting inning, the bottom of the sixth.
ANOTHER MASTERFUL PITCHING PERFORMANCE by AJ Verastegui spearheaded Woodville to a 10-1 victory over Adelaide at Plympton.
Verastegui conceded four hits for 11 strikeouts in six innings to lead the way for the Senators, as his teammates shared the load with the bat.
In the second frame, Wade Moore singled, Hayden Carroll had a RBI double and Greg Bravo followed with a RBI hit to give Woodville an early 2-0 lead, which was expanded by a run in the third, when Callum Park doubled and scored on Cesar Perez’s single.
And in answer to the Angels’ first and only run of the game in the bottom of the sixth, the Senators piled on five runs at the top of the seventh, after three walks, two errors and two-run hits by Moore and Troy Nicholson
Another two runs, where Moore collected his fourth hit of the game, in the eighth, capped the scoring.
IT WAS A HITTERS’ PARADISE AT Mortlock Park, where Goodwood was too good in the end against Kensington, coming from a 5-0 deficit to win 16-8.
The Cardinals scored three runs at the top of the opening inning, after Jack Platten doubled, Michael Bishop walked and Tyler Butterwick cleared the bases with his bomb.
Then at the top of the fourth, Platten singled and Bishop smashed a two-run home run, to stake Kensington to a 5-0 lead.
Initially the Indians’ approach was to inch back in to the game, which they did with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, on RBI hits to Josh Bradley and Alex Gellert.
An explosive eight-run fifth dig then changed the complexion of the game, after two-run hits to Cooper Pratt and Alex Gray, and Billy Sutton’s three-run homer, to see Goodwood 10-5 up.
To the Cardinals’ credit, they fought back with a three-run sixth frame, which featured hits to Jordan Spratt, Platten, Bishop, Nick Collins, Kyle Gibbs and Mitch Griffiths, to trail 10-8 – game on.
But veteran Goodwood pitcher Darren Fidge, although giving up six hits in the sixth, then faced the minimum over the final three digs to secure victory for the Indians.
Two-run doubles by Dylan Howarth and Griffen Weber in the bottom of the seventh helped Goodwood extend the lead out to 14-8, while another two runs in the eighth was the icing on the cake.
Fidge pitched four innings for six hits and four strikeouts in another amazing effort by a 50-year-old!
NINE RUNS AND THREE DINGERS in the final two innings blew out the game for Sturt against Northern Districts at Ingle Farm, with the Saints winning 15-2.
The Reds grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the opening frame on Tyson Lees’ home run, with Sturt equalising with a run at the top of the second, after Jackson Brebner-Russ walked and Kobe Brooks hit a single.
But in the third dig the Saints moved in front with a three-run rally, after Blake Farr’s RBI double and Brooks’ two-run, two-bagger.
Single runs in the fourth (Mitch Lightbody’s RBI single) and seventh (Jack Dawson’s sac fly) saw Sturt 6-1 up. North did pull one back in the bottom of the seventh, after hits to Cam Dziego and Tom Fraser.
Then the fireworks started, as the Saints scored four runs at the top of the eighth (Brebner-Russ three-run dinger) and five in the ninth (Harry Knuckey solo homer and a Blake Farr grand slam), to run out 15-2 victors.
Sturt starting pitcher Austin McClure threw seven innings for six hits and five strikeouts to claim the win.
* * * * *
Division one baseball results:
Goodwood d Kensington 16-8 (hits: Goodwood – Heeps 3, Bradley 3, Sutton 2 (hr), Pratt 2, Gray 2, D. Howarth 2, Weber, Fidge, Gellert; Kensington – Platten 3, J. Spratt 2, Bishop 2 (hr), T. Butterwick 2 (hr), Gibbs 2, Griffiths 2, Collins, E. Spratt. WP: D. Fidge; LP: K. Miura).
Gawler Rangers d Golden Grove Central Districts 3-2 in 10 innings (hits: Gawler – Child 2, Renken 2, Prokopec, Paturis; GGCD – Walsh 2, Youngblood, Phillips, Shotton, Wallis. WP: E. Badcock; LP: B. Caskey).
Southern Districts d Port Adelaide 3-0 (hits: South – Kawakami 3, Hattersley (hr), Short, Turner; Port – Steigert, Murphy. WP: T. Kawakami; LP: S. Steigert).
Henley & Grange d Glenelg 8-2 (hits: H&G – Inglis 4, Bull 3 (hr), Partington 2, Helmig 2 (hr), Lee 2, Yonezawa 2, Trevaskis; Glenelg – Reid 2, Huttunen, Judd, Ross. WP: W. Lee; LP: J. Eldridge).
Sturt d Northern Districts 15-2 (hits: Sturt – Brooks 4, Knuckey 3 (hr), Brebner-Russ 3 (hr), Farr 3 (gshr), Beaumont 2, Lightbody, Baumer, J. Dawson, Ottaway; North – Dominguez 2, Lees (hr), Paulino, Dziego, Fraser, Whelan. WP: A. McClure; LP: A. Dominguez).
West Torrens d East Torrens 21-4 (hits: WT – Clavell 4 (3 hr), T. McGarry 4, Ni. Vanderlinden 2, S. McGarry 2, Scott 2, Chapman 2, Barker 2 (hr), Broome, Weber (hr); ET – Ashcroft 2 (hr), Stewart, Yeatman, Powell, Ard (hr). WP: B. Marsh; LP: B. Ashworth).
Woodville d Adelaide 10-1 (hits: Woodville – Moore 4, Park, Perez, T. Nicholson, Carroll, Bravo, Taheny; Adelaide – Martinez 2, Forney, Welch, Congdon. WP: AJ Verastegui; LP: H. Batchelor).
Premiership points: Woodville 28, Southern Districts 26, Henley & Grange 26, Sturt 24, Adelaide 20, West Torrens 20, Port Adelaide 18, Gawler Rangers 16, East Torrens 14, Glenelg 12, GGCD 8, Goodwood 8, Northern Districts 2, Kensington 2.
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BASEBALL (January 14, 2025)
ALBERT’S BLASTS DRIVE NORTH TO VICTORY
By Robert Laidlaw [Adelaide v Glenelg photos from Paul Taeuber]
NORTHERN DISTRICTS WON ITS second game of the season with a thrilling 4-2 victory over Goodwood at Ingle Farm in division one baseball, with Albert
Dominguez smashing two home runs.
It looked like the Indians were going to be hard to beat when the first batter of the game, Billy Sutton, hit a dinger to stake Goodwood to a 1-0 lead.
But it didn’t take long for the Reds to even things up, when, in the bottom of the first with two out, Dominguez hit his first home run.
Then in the bottom of the third, Dominguez repeated his earlier feat and it was 2-1 North.
After Dylan Howarth singled and came home on Griffin Weber’s double at the top of the fifth, the scores were tied 2-2 and the game was going down to the wire.
Learning a lesson from Dominguez’s earlier heroics for the Reds, Goodwood pitcher Darren Fidge intentionally put him on with a walk in the bottom of the sixth.
Joel Paulino then doubled for Dominguez to score the go-ahead run, before he came home on Josh Whelan’s hit up the middle to make it 4-2.
The pressure was now on Paulino, who had pitched the first six innings, to hold Goodwood out in the seventh and final frame. And he did the job, three up and three down, to secure the win – he gave up six hits for four K2s in the game.
Fidge was solid from the mound for the Indians, also going the distance, surrendering just those four hits – which were all RBI hits – for six strikeouts.
THE GAME WAS VIRTUALLY OVER in the first inning, as Adelaide scored four times on the way to a 7-1 victory over Glenelg at Plympton.
Two walks and two wild pitches started the Angels’ first dig rally, with Stefan Welch hitting a double, Henry Cann a two-run single and Ben Ganley a sac fly, for a 4-0 lead.
Single runs in the next three frames, on RBI hits to Ty Forney, Rahmen Martinez and Welch, blew the lead out to 7-0.
Glenelg finally got on the scoreboard at the top of the seventh and final inning when Kai Reid put one over the centrefield fence.
From the mound Riley Yeatman pitched 6.1 frames for the win, conceding three hits for three strikeouts.
SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SMASHED ITS WAY to a resounding 13-1 victory over top team Woodville at Findon, to now share pole position with the Senators and Henley.
It started slowly with single runs in the first two innings, on a Brett Hattersley RBI single and a Luke Hansen home run.
Then a big six-run third frame blew the contest out of the water. It was innocuous enough at the start, with just a Drew Davies double and a walk with two out, but another walk, two hit batsmen and Jake Campbell’s grand slam dinger made it an 8-0 ballgame.
A pair of errors, another hit batsman and three hits in the fourth produced another three runs, while at the top of the fifth, Davies smashed a two-un home run to make it 13-0.
In the bottom of the fifth and final inning, Breandan Taheny smashed a home run to help the Senators avoid a shut-out.
From the mound, Nick Hutchings pitched four innings for two hits and three strikeouts to claim the win.
HENLEY & GRANGE BROKE OPEN a 4-4 ball game at the top of the sixth and final inning to beat Golden Grove Central Districts 11-4 at Illyarrie Reserve.
At the top of the first frame the Rams scored four runs, after Jack Partington doubled and stole second base before coming home on Lou Helmig’s sac fly. Then Wilson Lee walked, Liam Bull doubled, Koki Yonezawa hit a two-run two-bagger, and Luke Trevaskis had a RBI single.
But the Dodgers responded with three runs in the bottom of the opening frame. Brandon Manzella tripled, Matt Phillips hit a RBI double, Dan Youngblood singled, Jake Shotton was hit by a pitch, Tom Walsh had a RBI single and Noah Rodgers walked in a run.
And in the second dig, Manzella was hit by a pitch and came home on Phillips’ hit to make it 4-4, a scoreline that remained until the top of the sixth.
Taking advantage of a pair of walks and two hit batsmen, Yonezawa hit a two-run single and Patrick Inglis smashed a three-run dinger, to make it 11-4, with the Dodgers unable to answer.
Over the final two innings, Partington did not allow a hit for three strikeouts to claim the win.
A FIVE-RUN FIFTH INNING was the game-changer in East Torrens’ 9-1 victory over Kensington at Payneham.
The Cardinals took the early lead at the top of the first dig, when Michael Bishop doubled and came home on Tyler Butterwick’s single.
But it didn’t take the Redsox long to equalise, in the second frame, when Charlie Ashcroft was hit by a pitch followed by three walks, and then went ahead with two runs in the fourth, after consecutive hits to Kason King, Jude Ard, Troy Chandler and Mark Stewart.
Then the five-run fifth made it 8-1, fuelled by three hit batsmen, two walks and hits by Carter Powell and Troy Chandler.
Ashcroft was the winning pitcher, conceding four hits for four strikeouts in five innings.
WITH NICO VANDERLINDEN PROMINENT, West Torrens accounted for Port Adelaide 6-1 at Lockleys.
Vanderlinden had a say in all the Eagles’ scoring innings, with a walk, a single, a sacrifice fly and a two-run home run.
In the bottom of the opening frame, Vanderlinden walked and eventually scored on Sam McGarry’s single.
Then at the top of the third dig the Magpies tied up the ballgame with a run, on Nick Vasic’s long dinger.
But West Torrens grabbed the lead back straight away, in the bottom of the third, when Vanderlinden singled, stole second base and came home on Mason Clavell’s hit.
In the fourth fame, an error, a Joel Chapman double, an Oscar Weber walk and a Nico Vanderlinden sac fly saw two runs cross the plate, and in the sixth, Jude Barker walked before Vanderlinden’s two-run home run finished the game’s scoring.
Starting pitcher Clavell threw four innings, conceding two hits for seven strikeouts.
STURT VIRTUALLY WALKED ITS WAY to a game-defining four-run first inning lead, before accounting for Gawler Rangers 9-0 at Mitcham.
In the bottom of the opening frame the Saints scored those four runs on the back of just one hit – a two-run double by Simon Baumer – and seven walks.
A RBI single by Jackson Brebner-Russ and a run-scoring groundout by Blake Farr in the second dig, saw another two Sturt runs and a 6-0 lead, which was extended by Mitch Lightbody’s RBI single in the third.
In the bottom of the fifth frame, Harry Knuckey smashed a home run and Brebner-Russ hit a RBI single as the Saints closed out the scoring.
Damon Arnold pitched six innings for the win, conceding three hits for five strikeouts.
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Division one baseball results:
West Torrens d Port Adelaide 6-1 (hits: WT – Ni. Vanderlinden 2 (hr), S. McGarry 2, Clavell, Chapman; Port – Vasic (hr), Arriola, F. McKee, Mitchell. WP: M. Clavell; LP: T. Trebilcock).
Adelaide d Glenelg 7-1 (hits: Adelaide – Welch 3, Forney 2, Damon, Cann, Martinez; Glenelg – Reid (hr), Ross, Arnold. WP: R. Yeatman; LP: C. Angeroth).
Northern Districts d Goodwood 4-2 (hits: North – Dominguez 2 (2 hr), Paulino, Whelan; Goodwood – Sutton 2 (hr), Weber, Pratt, Bradley, D. Howarth. WP: J. Paulino; LP: D. Fidge).
Henley & Grange d Golden Grove Central Districts 11-4 (hits: Henley – Partington 3, Bull 2, Yonezawa 2, Helmig, Inglis (hr), Trevaskis, J. Hodges; GGCD – Phillips 2, Manzella, Youngblood, Walsh, J. Chenoweth. WP: J. Partington; LP: C. O’Reily).
Sturt d Gawler Rangers 9-0 (hits: Sturt – Brebner-Russ 2, Baumer 2, Knuckey (hr), Lightbody; Gawler – Z. Heintze-Unger, Prokopec, Child. WP: D. Arnold; LP: E. Badcock).
East Torrens d Kensington 9-1 (hits: ET – Powell 2, T. Chandler 2, Stewart, Lucas, Ashcroft, King, Ard; Kensington – J. Spratt, Bishop, T. Butterwick, Gibbs, Heffernan. WP: C. Ashcroft; LP: J. Spratt).
Southern Districts d Woodville 13-1 (hits: South – Campbell 3 (hr), Davies 3 (hr), Hattersley 2, Hansen 2 (hr), Nykiel; Woodville – Janssen, Rodrigues, Taheny (hr). WP: N. Hutchings; LP: T. Nicholson).
Premiership points: Woodville 28, Southern Districts 28, Henley & Grange 28, Sturt 26, Adelaide 22, West Torrens 22, Port Adelaide 18, Gawler Rangers 16, East Torrens 16, Glenelg 12, GGCD 8, Goodwood 8, Northern Districts 4, Kensington 2.