CENTRALS V SOUTH
South fielded a very young team in Friday night’s second round Mount Gambier and District Baseball League clash with ladder leader Centrals but fought on bravely.
Scoring two runs in the bottom of the first dig after two base on ball and a double from Alex Ridding from young Indians pitcher Deegan Habner, the Magpies were on the board with two runners crossing the plate.
Centrals piled on the runs in the third adding five as they batted through the line-up.
Singles to Nathan Meinck, Dylan Chuck and Alex Ridding followed by two more walks added to South’s misery.
Two more runs were added in the fourth innings.
With a change of pitchers and coach Ryan Placucci bringing himself to the hill, Nathan Meinck added another single to his batting stats and scored on Dylan Chuck’s triple to deep centrefield.
He subsequently crossed home plate on Alex Ridding’s sacrifice fly also to centrefield.
South hit the scoreboard in the top of the fifth when Ryan Walter doubled to leftfield and scored on Tarkyn Morale’s hit into an infield error.
The Maggies batters crushed the ball into mercy rule territory in the bottom of the fifth, forcing five more runners across the plate.
Colby Muller singled and Josh Chuck hit into another error from the infield.
It was a light bulb moment for the Indians with the next two batters sent back to the dugout without getting wood on the ball, leaving two on bases.
Not to be outdone, Centrals fought back with Dave Harris loading the bases with a single, Dylan Gull watching four balls go by scoring Muller, then Dylan Chuck stepped up to the plate and hit his third safe hit for the game scoring all three runners.
Alex Ridding also batted 1000 when his third hit for the night landed safe scoring Chuck before the side was retired.
South doubled their score in the top of the sixth when Blake McAdam found himself at first after an infield error at shortstop and he crossed the home plate when Brandon Horrigan’s Texas leaguer to centrefield fell short of the fielder.
With two hours played and South behind by at least 10 runs the mercy rule was invoked by umpire Graham Thompson.
FEDERALS V TIGERS
Federals leadoff batter Nash Lobley picked a walk and became the first run of the game when he was batted in by Alex Reppin.
Tigers’ Patrick Kermond tied the game in the bottom of the second when he crossed the plate on a fielder’s choice.
At the top of the third former Tigers Riley Rolph and Alex Reppin were both on base and both batted in by Clay Carpenter’s hit to rightfield.
In the bottom of the inning Tigers fought back to tie the game once more with both Ben Marcus and Matt Thompson reaching home plate.
The Demons pushed ahead in the fourth, Dean Searcy was hit by the pitcher, Nash Lobley got on base after a wild throw and Riley Rolph was also hit by a pitched ball with all three scoring to give them a lead of three runs.
There were two more in the fifth for Federals after Dean Searcy walked and Nash Lobley found himself again on base from a fielder’s choice.
Searcy scored with bases loaded from a walk by Matt Nicholls and Lobley batted in by Craig Nicholls.
Federals increased the pain on the Tigers defence adding another three runs in the top of the seventh.
Riley Rolph singled to centrefield and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
Alex Reppin singled, also to centrefield and Matt Nicholls drew a base on ball.
They were both batted in by Craig Nicholls giving Federals an 11-3 margin.
In the top of the ninth Federals finally put the game out of the Tigers’ reach.
Alex Reppin singled, Matt Nicholls was hit by a pitched ball, Craig Nicholls Texas leaguer scored Reppin, Shujat Esufali hit into an error to again load the bases.
Jordan Johnson was also hit with a pitched ball which pushed Matt Nicholls across the dish.
Dean Searcy hit the ball into play to score Craig Nicholls and Nash Lobley’s safe hit to leftfield scored Esufali and Johnson.
Searcy scored the eight run of the innings on a wild pitch before the innings was wrapped up.
Tigers tried valiantly to cut the margin in the bottom of the final dig.
Harrison Elletson hit safely to centrefield and Ben Marcus watched four balls go by before walking to first.
Elletson scored on Kane Harrison’s hit to leftfield and Marcus crossed on Kaleb Kermond’s sacrifice fly to rightfield before the third and last out of the night was achieved giving the win to Federals 19 runs to 5.
