South Indians were pitted against Central Magpies in Mount Gambier and District Baseball League Division 1 round 2 action at Blue Lake Sports Park.
Batting first, South scored three runs when Ben Nash walked and crossed home on a wild throw.
He was closely followed by Deklan Joyce and Ryan Placucci who also scored on a wild throw with not a safe hit between them.
Central replied with one of their own when Mitchell Ruwoldt picked a walk and scored on Josh Aston’s sacrifice fly.
South added one more in the top of the third when Brett Masterman clobbered a two-bagger to leftfield and scored on another wild throw.
Not another run was scored until the top of the ninth due to both teams tightening their pitching and fielding.
The Indians scored two in the last to put the icing on the cake. Ben Nash picked his second base on ball and was batted in by Linkon Ratcliffe’s stand up double and he consequently scored on Ryan Placucci’s sacrifice fly to leftfield giving them the win six runs to two.
South had four safe hits, four walks, two hit batters, two runs batted in, two strike outs and made three errors. Central had four safe hits, one walk, two hit batters, one run batted in, six strike outs and made three errors.
Reigning premiers Central handed out a 13-0 thrashing to Millicent at Millicent in the second Division 1 game.
The Bandits held Central scoreless in their first at bat but that was the end of the penny section as they scored in all five following innings and held Millicent scoreless for the game.
In the second dig Josh Chuck found himself on board after the catcher put down a catch. He scored on Kyall McClean’s single to centrefield, Nathan Meinck singled to the same spot and they both scored on Dylan Chuck’s triple to leftfield. Alex Ridding’s single batted him in to see the score 4-0.
Colby Muller doubled to centrefield in the third and was batted in by Josh Chuck to be 5-0.
Dylan Chuck led off in the top of the fourth with a single as did Alex Ridding. Chuck was batted in by Koby Chant and Ridding by Dylan Gull, with the score 7-0.
The fifth inning saw Kyall McClean hit by the pitcher, Nathan Meinck and Dylan Chuck both picked a base on ball, McClean crossed on a wild pitch, Alex Ridding’s sacrifice fly scored Meinck and Chuck also scored on a wild pitch, with Central climbing to 10-0.
In the sixth and final inning after which the mercy rule was invoked, Colby Muller pulled up at first on an error, Josh Chuck walked, Lachlan Ridding’s sacrifice fly scored Muller, Kyall McClean drew a walk, Josh Chuck was batted in by Dylan Chuck’s safe hit to centerfield which also saw McClean cross the home plate.
The final score was 13-0. Millicent had two safe hits, one hit batter, seven strikeouts and made seven errors. Central had 10 safe hits, five base on ball, one hit batter, 11 runs batted in and six strikeouts.
The Mount Gambier and District Baseball League is welcoming any under 11, under 13 or under 15 people out there looking to play baseball.
The league has advised there is every chance that you will not have to pay any club fees. Thanks to a very generous anonymous philanthropist donor, club fees for these grades will be covered this season.
If you are interested, contact any of the clubs – Central, Federal, Millicent, Naracoorte, South or Tigers via their websites or the Mount Gambier and District Baseball League website and they will put you in touch with a club.
This is a fantastic chance to play baseball, a game that is all over in 90 minutes so not taking up a lot of your spare time. In that time, you will bat, run bases, field and throw a ball around.
It’s great fun.
