Concordes United narrowly defeated Wanderers in a hard-fought game in round 3 of the Mount Gambier Softball league this week.
Bouncing back from a mercy rule loss last week, United jumped out of the blocks with five runs on the board in the first innings, thanks to consecutive doubles from Sarah Thomson and Leonie McCallum.
Wanderers answered immediately with four runs, with Rej Smith and Charlie Kaigg hitting doubles of their own.
Bec Von Duve joined the doubles party in the second innings, scoring both Codie Jackway and Hannah Taylor, to take the game score to 7-4.
Again, Wanderers were up to the task, with a safe hit to Leanne Little scoring both Smith and Abbey Lovekin, whose disciplined batting saw them draw walks.
Another RBI to Von Duve after safe hits again to Thomson, McCallum and Jackway sealed the deal for United, who held on for an 11-9 victory despite two late runs to Wanderers.
Codie Jackway was put in to pitch for United and despite being down to 7 players they executed a triple play for the cherry on top of their victory.
The other game saw Demons take on Concordes White.
The challenge and focus this week for the up-and-coming Demons side was to back up their great performance from last week, hoping to take it to last year’s finalists Concordes White.
It took a couple of innings to get comfortable and confident, with White piling on the pressure and holding early control, taking a 5-1 lead into the third, thanks to hits from Chloe Reid, Karly Pearson, Kylie Cook and Sam Rees.
Cindy Burford got her team going with a well-executed bunt, which was followed by singles from Steph Chant, Sarah Nieuwenhuisen and Billie Jones, and a triple to Em Hart saw Demons score six runs in the third innings to take a 7-5 lead.
The combination of pitcher Karly Pearson and catcher Linley Pollard for Concordes White made sure the job for the Demons was a challenging one, with both playing well for their side.
The ever-experienced Sam Brown hit a double in the fourth to score Kylie Doll, keeping Concordes White’s chances alive, but in the end, Demons were simply too good, running out 12-6 victors as they took advantage of some errors in the Concordes field.
Billie Jones was the winning pitcher for the Demons against her old team, showing why she is an early contender for MVP with another solid outing.
Brydie Pukett, a first game player for Demons, had a day to remember with three RBIs and a walk.
Steph Chant held down third base with a couple of spectacular catches and Sarah Neuiuwenhuisen was able to ensure the batters in front of her were moving around.
The Demons will be very pleased with the way the team is moving forward in leaps and bounds so far, improving their overall game and now with a two and one record, starting to believe they can be the team to watch this year.
