The Central Baseball Club has written its name in the history books, claiming the Mount Gambier and District Baseball League’s Division 1 premiership on the weekend.


Central defeated its sister team Central Magpies, continuing its undefeated season to claim its premiership three-peat.


The Division 1 side claimed the first two matches in the best of three series, with the third game not required.


Central continued their winning run in the first grand final game on Friday night.


After shutting out the Central Magpies in the top of the first inning in the opening game, disaster struck for top of the ladder sister team Central.


Lead off batter and team coach Kyall McClean crunched a hit to left field, he stole to second base, Nathan Meinck then hit to shortstop who made the play to second base to hold McClean back.


In sliding back into the base, he unfortunately dislocated his shoulder which resulted in a trip to hospital and he was unable to take any further part in the game.


Alex Ridding’s hit to shortstop resulted in a wild throw scoring Josh Chuck, McClean’s replacement Meinck crossed on a wild pitch while Dylan Gull’s single saw Ridding home for a three-run start.


The Magpies were back in the game in the fourth with two runs.


Brad Lynagh picked a base on ball, Justin Tzioutziouklaris picked up his second hit of the game landing in left field, Mitch Cutting followed to the same spot filling the corners.


Blade Stuges’ hit to third base forced an error scoring Lynagh whilst Liam McDonald’s walk scored Tzioutziouklaris.


Not to be outdone, Central applied pressure right back.


Colby Muller drew a walk, Nathan Meinck advanced him with an infield single, Dylan Chuck hit deep to right field pushing Muller home, Alex Ridding’s single also to right field scored Meinck, Gull’s flyball to left field was put down scoring Chuck and allowed Ridding to cross the homeplate from second.


One more in the next dig by the league leaders saw them push the lead out by five runs.


Patrick O’Hehir’s two bagger to centre field put him in a scoring position and he was duly batted in by Josh Chuck.


There was more heat on the Magpies in the bottom of the sixth as they could not contain the power hitting of their opposition who scored three, looking as though they would enforce a mercy rule result in seven innings.


Gull crunched a hit that very nearly cleared the fence at left field for a standup double, Koby Chant hit safely to centre field, Dave Harris followed suit with a hit to right field scoring Gull, Colby Muller’s hit to first base created an error scoring Chant and Harris was batted in by Josh Chuck.


Two consolation runs in the top of the ninth to the Magpies in a last-ditch effort was not enough to keep the game going.


Young Cooper Smith slammed a double to left field, Mitch Ruwoldt beat out a short hit to first base, Smith outfoxed the defence arriving home on some brilliant base running and Ruwoldt was batted in by Jordan Carrison leaving Central 11-4 winners of game 1.


Central then put Central Magpies to the sword in game 2 of the grand final series on Saturday afternoon.


They scored 19 runs from 19 safe hits and kept the Magpies scoreless for six innings.


Although being the second-best team in the five team competition, had one of the other Mount Gambier clubs been able to nominate a team in this division then the Magpies would have been playing in Division 2 and with the talent in the team probably won that premiership.


Credit goes to the Central club for giving some 25-30 players the opportunity to play at this level and experience the higher intensity of the game.


It gave the opportunity to many as young as 16 to play at this higher level, which will be of great value in the future.


But back to the game, when in the bottom of the third dig the Central batters got going.


Lead off batter Harris was hit by the pitcher, Meinck blasted a double to right field, Chuck singled to left field scoring Harris, Ridding was also hit by the pitcher filling the bases and then master blaster Gull stepped up to the plate.


Unlike the night before when his hit fell just short of the fence, this time Gull found the sweet spot on the bat and the ball sailed over the fence at left field for a grand slam home run.


This well-oiled team machine was up and running.


Colby Muller was next on base and walked home after the bases were loaded again.


They repeated the dose in the next inning, adding a further seven runs.


A walk to Ridding, an infield muffed fly to Gull, a single to Chant batted in Ridding and an error by the catcher allowed Muller aboard again loading the bases.


A base on ball to Daniel Ferguson scored Gull, a shot up the middle to centre field by Harris scored Chant and Muller, Chuck followed with a hit to the same fielder scoring Ferguson and Harris and he in turn was batted in by Gull.


Everything fell Central’s way in the fifth as their hits dropped into space short of outfielders and just out of reach of infielders.


Muller got on base on a fielder’s choice and scored on a wild throw, then seven consecutive singles to Harris, Meinck, Chuck, Ridding, Gull, Chant and Muller batted in five runs for a final score of 19-0.


After his three safe hits on Friday night and three safe hits in the second game – including a grand slam home run – Gull was presented with the Jeanette Burner Memorial Most Valuable Player Medallion by members of her family.


The premiership cup was presented to injured coach Kyall McClean.


DIVISION 2


Naracoorte finished their season with the premiership after being top of the ladder most of the season.


Although they were challenged late in the game they managed to keep South Indians at bay.


The Rangers scored single runs in the second, third and fourth innings and two in the fifth.


Naracoorte pitcher, Ken Sisson held the South batters to just two safe hits for the game and picked up eight strikeouts along the way.


Naracoorte were always on top, noticeable in the batting box as they out-hit South nine safe hits to two.


The Indians added three runs in the sixth but not enough to advance the game to extra time, giving the Rangers a 5-3 victory.


MVP for the game was Ken Sisson.


BIG LEAGUE


Top of the ladder South Indians prevailed in their quest for a premiership in the Big League, played prior to the Division 1 game at Blue Lake Sports Park in the first of six premierships to be decided over the weekend.


South was always ahead in the game from the get-go, scoring one in the second and two in the third innings.


As they did last weekend, Central were able to forge their way back into the game with two in the fourth and a tying run in the sixth.


Unfortunately for them they were not able to build further on their score and were made to pay by some brilliant batting from the Indian lineup.


Safe hits to Phoenix Cole and Linkon Ratcliffe and with two out a walk off, two run, standup double to winning pitcher and game Most Valuable Player Jett Lewis sealed the game and the premiership for a jubilant South Indians.


JUNIOR LEAGUE


Tigers re-found their early season form to take out the Junior League premiership against Central.


Batting first, Tigers leadoff batter Duke Bradley belted the first pitch over the left field fence and they went on to score another two runs to give them a three run start.


Central fired back with two but Tigers scored another three in the next inning, including another hit over the fence by Titan Dumigan, giving them a little stranglehold on the game.


Central added three in the third to trail by a solitary run but Tigers put the game to bed in the fourth when they had four runs cross the home plate.


Both teams had eight strikeouts but it was the batting that was the difference between the two teams as Tigers out-hit Central 9-4, including two home runs.


Atticus Mutton was named Most Valuable Player for his two safe hits and his job as relief pitcher to shut down the Central batters to take the save.


LITTLE LEAGUE


Central started the day with the first of three club premierships of the day when they defeated Federal 9-0.


Federal were courageous in defeat but 14 walks, a couple of hit batters and six safe hits against did not really help their cause but another season under their belt will see them huge improvers next season.


Central’s two pitchers Harvey Gull and Connor Ruwoldt contained the Demons batters along with some excellent fielding efforts.


Central’s Axel Reeves was the only batter with two safe hits.


Most Valuable Player was Central’s Connor Ruwoldt.


MINOR LEAGUE


Competition late arrivals Tigers Black faced off against Central for the Minor League grand final.


Scoring four runs in the first, two in the third and two in the fourth saw Central hold sway over the Tigers who were only allowed the solitary run in the third.


Both pitchers for the sides pitched their very best but Central had the edge in the batting box with eight safe hits to six, but Central were able to score runs at will as they hit to all parts of the ground.


Central had multiple hitters in Jordan Scherer, Will Mitchell and Harley Mitchell while Federal only had one multiple hitter in Digby Newman.


Jed Cutting from Central was named Most Valuable Player.