South and Tigers open season with a classic

South and Tigers open season with a classic

The 2021-22 Mount Gambier and District Baseball League season arrived with a bang under the Friday night lights of Blue Lake Sports Park with rivals South and Tigers facing off in a nail bitter.

South brought a more youthful side then the previous season’s grand final team and the veteran Dean Hamilton was given the ball on the hill to begin proceedings.

Tigers drew first blood in the top of the first inning when lead off batter Hayden Jones picked a walk followed by Brayden Morton making first on an error which advanced Jones to third.

However, a wild throw sent Jones all the way to record the first home run of the new season.

Morton followed suit in the very next play where he crossed to give Tigers an early two-run buffer.

Tigers playing coach Karl Ransom started the season on the mound and kept South scoreless in the first innings retiring three up three down.

Tigers scored early again in the second inning when Karl Ransom singled up the third base line, which was then followed by a line drive to right field by Riley Rolph.

Ransom advanced home on a single shot by Joe Sims to left field which gave Tigers a comfortable 3-0 lead early in the second.

South came out swinging in the second and it was the young guys who pushed South back in the game.

After back to back errors by Tigers, South then scored two runs on another error to bring the game to just one run.

The third innings then saw Garth “Nugget” Ransom send a shot to deep centre right to give himself a nice double to kick start the third innings, which was followed by a line drive through second base by Matt Thompson to score Ransom giving Tigers another run and some breathing room.

Karl Ransom picked up his second hit of the night but was left stranded on base by some clean glove work in the infield by South’s Dylan Lewis to retire the side.

With Ransom throwing well South appeared in trouble when Hamilton and Bruce Morale were retired without hits, Travis Lockwood picked up South’s first safe hit of the game in the fourth inning with a shot to left field.

This was followed by Declan Joyce then doubling South’s hit tally the very next bat with his own line drive to centre field.

Unfortunately for South it was short lived and Matt Thompson touched his base and it was side away.

A pitching change was swung by Bruce Morale and Hamilton was replaced by Ryan Placcuci and this move bought South back into the game as the Tigers’ runs dried up.

Tigers only registered two more hits over the next 1four innings both coming from coach Ransom to take his game tally to four.

Tigers then made a pitching change of its own in the sixth where Karl Ransom replaced himself with Brayden Morton.

South struck right of the bat when Placucci singled followed by Bruce Morale making first on an error and suddenly the Indians had a sniff.

Travis Lockwood then picked up his second hit of the night with a hard hit ball to centre field which loaded the bases for South.

Tarkyn Morale, son of south champion Ben then drove a ball to left field which scored Placucci.

But South were not done, veteran superstar Bruce Morale wound back the clock when he stole home and caught Tigers off guard, bringing the Tigers’ lead to a single run.

South rallied again in the eighth when Bruce Morale hit a long double down the left field line and Tigers looked in big trouble.

But a solid closing pitcher effort by Brayden Morton shut the door on Southand kept Tigers with their nose in front going into the last.

Tigers had the opportunity to improve on its score when Jones reached first, then stole second in the next pitch stole to second, but again some clean infield skills by young gun Dylan Lewis all but ended Tigers’ last chance to improve the score.

South needed just one run to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth and they got the perfect start when Tarkyn Morale advanced on a ball four walk.

But heartbreak soon followed for South as Tarkyn Morale was thrown out trying to steal the next pitch.

Morton retired the next two batters to give Tigers the win 5-4 in a season opening classic.


Centrals v Federal Bandits


The Centrals and Federal Bandits clash took centre stage on the main diamond on Saturday evening.

Centrals showed no signs early of a premiership hangover and coach Dylan Chuck looked to have the team ready for another crack at the Syd Hosking Cup in 2021-22.

Chuck started on the mound for Centrals and was always going to be a tough ask for the Federals Bandits and it was three up three down in quick succession.

Centrals then exploded in the first innings and before the Bandits knew it, nine runs had crossed home plate in the blink of an eye giving Centrals a dream start.

Chuck continued to hold firm in the second innings again retiring Federal Bandits in quick succession with only Anthony Mutton making contact and getting himself to first.

Centrals then added two more in the bottom of the second to make the game all but gone for The Bandits in the second innings.

Centrals then added another run in the third inning as the side’s dream start became a nightmare for the Bandits.

A pitching change was made for Centrals and future star Alex Ridding was given the job on the hill.

Nerves got to Ridding early and a couple of walks allowed the Bandits break their run drought and they were on the board, quickly adding two more to give themselves something to get rowdy about in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The Federal Bandits even tried the old “my dog stole the ball” trick late in the game after their number one four legged fan, run off with the game ball after a foul earning a nice round of applause from the diehard baseball fans of Mount gambier.

Chuck entered the mound for the second time in the night to give Centrals a bit more time to relax.

But when ball four was called, the Bandits added their fourth run of the night on a loaded bases walk by Chuck.

But that was a good as it got for the boys in blue and green.

Centrals then added single runs in both the bottom seventh and eighth innings which forced plate umpire Trav Lockwood signal time and the game came to an early end due to the mercy rule.

A good night with the bat saw Nathan Meink and Alex Ridding pick up two hits each whilst the coach of the Bandits Anthony Mutton led from the front picking up two hits himself.

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