Saturday afternoon baseball arrived in Millicent to a bumper crowd for the 11th round of the Mount Gambier and District season where the travelling Central side were looking to continue their winning streak and take a zero loss record to the Christmas break.
The game started with a close contest with Centrals drawing first blood in the second innings thanks to a left field single by Ethan Chuck.
A Jordan Johnston single to centre field equalled the scores in the top of the third innings and the Millicent/Federals side had the home crowd up and about.
Centrals were needing to find a second gear as Millicent/Federals just would not go away.
The summer heat was starting to take its toll on the young Bandits brigade with errors starting to creep in and all of a sudden, the Centrals side found its mojo after a double to young gun Alex Ridding to kick start proceedings, backed up by a double to Jordan Aston and suddenly the score was five to one.
Things went from bad to worse for Millicent/Federals and another six runs in the fifth inning saw a nine-run lead to the premier team.
Centrals added another five in the sixth and the game was well gone for the Millicent/Federals boys.
Millicent could not add to their total in the bottom of the innings and the umpire had seen enough, calling time, to give the Centrals a monster 15-1 victory.
Big time performances came from Chuck with two hits and three RBI’s and Ridding who scored two hits and two RBI’s.
An undermanned Tigers team took on a fired up South Indians side who could smell an upset going into the break at Blue Lake Sports Park on Saturday night.
Hayden Jones started for Tigers looking in control on the mound and retiring South without an issue in the first.
The game turned into a hit-fest from there on in and runs were a plenty for both sides.
Tigers drew first blood in the bottom of the third inning when Jones scored from second on a play to first base.
South struck back in the bottom of the third, scoring three to give them some breathing room.
Tigers unveiled their fifth rookie in his first game for the year in Division 1 with forty-two-year-old Phil Clark getting the nod.
Tigers scored two in the fourth and the game was all square again at three apiece.
That would not last long though with South scoring four more in the sixth making it a seven run to three lead to the Indians.
Tigers clawed back another two in the seventh and it was now only a two run lead.
A pitching change by both sides saw Placcucci replaced by Dean Hamilton for the Indians and for Tigers, Jones was replaced by Coach Karl Ransom.
South enjoyed the change and managed to hit another three runs across the plate, burying the Tigers side and claiming a 10 to 10 to five run victory.
Big performances from South saw Bruce Morale and Jesse Balshaw both with two hits and two RBI’s whilst for Tigers it was Jake England and Matt Thompson with three safe hits each.
Baseball will resume after the break on Friday, January 7 with South and Millicent/Federal facing off at Blue Lake Sports Park before Centrals and Tigers take centre field on Saturday afternoon.
