Warriors 9 d Concordes United 4

Warriors proved too strong for Concordes United in round five of the Mount Gambier Softball League.

Allana Feast took on the pitching duties for United, zinging down strikes to the Warriors hitters while keeping her youngest sister Dana Jones on her toes behind the plate.

Warriors’ “Smiling Assassin” Mel Chuck showed her class with a crisp single to the right side but the two out rally was shut down after Jones snagged a Skylea McLean foul fly with the scoreboard showing a doughnut.

Jones came out swinging in the bottom half of the first, as did the promising youngster Dianne Wilson but were denied by the Warriors defence.

Former Warrior Bec White strode to the plate for her first at bat against her old side with her trademark smile but that may have been hiding some jitters as she let pitcher Leyna Bruggemann slot one past her for the final out.

Despite Warriors’ experienced hitters patiently picking three walks in a row from Feast, United held strong without relinquishing any runs in the second.

Feast was at it again this time with the bat, expertly placing a blooper in between four Warriors fielders, as did Tylar Kennett.

Warriors looked a bit frazzled and Chuck’s leadership shone through, settling the team, Teresa Hatch pulling in a screamer off of Jones’ bat at third but not before United scored a run and took the lead.

Jones took another solid catch running back to the fence off the bat of reliable Caroline Bradshaw for the first out in the third.

Chuck then unleashed a 2-2 pitch for a double to Wilson at centre, Warriors started mounting the pressure on the United field by consistently putting the ball into play via McClean and Kelly Doyle.

Bruggemann sent a humdinger to the fence scoring two and resting at second as Wilson continued to impress with minimising extra bases with pinpoint relays from centrefield.

Polderman stepped up with a run batted in single before Sarah Thomson threw the speedy Justine Koop out to White at first for the last out, Warriors up 4-1.

Thomson looked chuffed as she stayed away from Bruggemann’s regular change of pace for a walk to be scored by a towering double to Feast.

United then had their tails up in the field after Hatch singled to Julie Beck at left, Hatch found herself doubled up at first after Kennett snagged a line drive off Chuck’s bat.

Kennett looked deservedly chuffed as both sides applauded the great play.

Warriors field had a few lapses but kept United scoreless in the fourth before blowing the game open with five earned runs in the fifth.

McClean led off with a single to centre, followed similarly by Doyle, “Saintly” Jasmine Disselbach earnt herself some extra crisp high fives for not ball watching as she put the ball in play to White at third.

Bruggemann and Polderman singled before Chuck noted the United infield being back, pulled the trigger on Koop to bunt and it was placed beautifully, loading up the bases for Hatch.

She doubled, scoring two, then Bradshaw singled to score before Feast made the last out.

Bruggemann started the bottom half of the inning with her eighth strike out before Thomson, White then Feast singled putting two runs onto United’s tally.

Disselbach executed a rare 9-3 off the bat of Kennett before Bruggemann’s throwing jitters struck again, Beck safe at first but thankfully Rosie Clark hit a ground ball to the safe glove of Bradshaw who made the last out of the game.

Demons 9 def. Concordes White 1

Playing with eight, Demons were eager to protect their winning streak facing up against Concordes White.

Demons were first at the bat but were held tight by White in the field leaving two runners on bases and no score on the board.

Concordes White started strong in the bat, managing Karley Pearson to get home and score White’s only run for the game.

Demons were looking to score big in the second managing three safe hits, unfortunately only able to get Sofie Morale home evening the score at 1-all.

Demons took to the field again and got three outs from four batters, with help from Kaesea Jackson, who played her first infield position.

Third innings is where Demons batting came alive in true Demons style.

Safe runs from Em Hart, Sarah Nieuwenhuizen, Steph Chant and Kezia Feast landed the team with six runs home.

Pitcher Billie Jones kept White at bay making it hard for batters to get on base and Demons’ fielders made sure when they got on they did not get home.

White catcher Lynley Pollard made it hard for Demons to steal bases and Sam Brown took majority of catches at first but it was not enough to compete with Demons disciplined fielding and safe batting.

The game ended after the fifth with a score of 9-1, with the Demons remaining undefeated.

Bandits 0 lt Wanderers 17

In the first ever match up between Bandits and Wanderers, it was the Wanderers who came out firing early with three-up, three-down in defence and then scoring 10 runs to take a big early lead by the end of the first dig.

Tilly Dohnt picked up the only safe hit of the day for the Bandits and while Chantel MacDonald pitched admirably all game, it was not enough to shut down the Wanderers consistent hitting with seven of the eight hitters hitting safely.

For Wanderers, Leanne Little and Abbie Lovekin pitched well keeping the Bandits scoreless and pitching a joint shut out thanks to some tidy defensive work in the field backing them up.

Leanne Little backed up her pitching with three safe hits of her own, Anderson and Finch collected two hits each with LCF, Lovekin, Kaigg and Emily Little being the other safe hitters in a big 17-0 victory giving Wanderers three wins in a row.