Rob's Wrap Up - Grand Final Weekend
Published Sun 24 Mar 2024
SATURDAY
BASEBALL (March 23, 2024)
STURT ON TOP
By Robert Laidlaw
BEHIND A SENSATIONAL PITCHING PERFORMANCE by Ky Hampton, Sturt has taken a one game lead in the best of three division one baseball grand final series against Henley & Grange at West Lakes, with a 4-1 victory.
Hampton threw eight innings for four hits and 13 strikeouts, as he limited the Rams scoring opportunities, as he only walked one batter.
The Saints took an early lead with a run at the top of the second inning, when Terrell Joyce and Jackson Brebner-Russ hit doubles with one out, but Henley pitcher Jordan Grose struck out the next two batters to keep the damage to a minimum.
At the top of the fourth Sturt mounted a challenge with two hits but could not break through, while in the bottom of the fourth, Landon Hernandez died up the ballgame with a long home run over the centrefield fence for the Rams.
It seemed the Sturt batting machine was primed to attack and collected three hits in the fifth frame but a double play on a lone drive to second base robbed it of taking the lead.
Then at the top of the sixth the Saints cashed in. Mitch Lightbody belted a double with Jordan McArdle smashing the first pitch over the fence for two runs. And after the first out, Brebner-Russ followed suit and crashed a dinger – 4-1 Sturt.
Game two is at West Lakes from midday today (Sunday), followed by a deciding game three if needed at 3pm.
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Division one baseball results:
GAME ONE, on Saturday:
Sturt d Henley & Grange 4-1 (hits: Sturt – Brebner-Russ 3 (hr), Lightbody 2, Joyce 2, McArdle (hr), Mitchell, Farr, Garcia; H&G – Partington 2, Hernandez (hr), Clohessy. WP: K. Hampton; LP: J. Grose.
SUNDAY
BASEBALL (March 24, 2024)
GRAND SLAM AND THEN HANG ON FOR FLAG
By Robert Laidlaw
STURT SECURED THE 2023 division one baseball premiership with an exciting 8-7 victory over Henley & Grange at West Lakes in game two on Sunday, after winning Saturday’s opener 4-1 in the grand final series.
Leading 8-0 after the game’s first two innings, it looked like the Saints by how much, but Henley fought tooth and nail to the end to fall short by just one run.
Batting first Sturt came out of the blocks with three runs, after Harry Knuckey and Mitch Lightbody hit singles, Jordan McArdle walked, Terrell Joyce had a RBI single, with a double play scoring the second run and Dayton Mitchell collecting a RBI hit.
Then in the second inning, three walks and Knuckey’s double saw one run in and loaded bases, with Jackson Brebner-Russ stepping to the plate and delivering a grand slam home run, to make it 8-0.
A shell-shocked Rams changed pitchers at the start of the third frame, with Landon Hernadez going the rest of the way and restricting Sturt’s scoring opportunities, conceding one hit (in the ninth frame) for nine strikeouts in seven innings.
Henley gave supporters a glimmer of hope with a three-run fourth dig. Liam Bull doubled, Patrick Inglis walked, Jet Clohessy had a RBI single and Jack Partington belted a two-run two-bagger, to make it 8-3.
In the bottom of the fifth, Inglis put one over the fence with a man on, to close the gap to 8-5, as dreams of an unlikely fightback seemed to be coming a reality.
Then, almost on cue, Hernandez, who had kept the Rams in the game with his pitching, delivered a powerful two-run dinger in the bottom of the eighth dig to see Henley within one run at 8-7, but the ninth and final frame amounted to nothing, leaving Sturt as premiers.
With a huge home run in game one, his grand slam in the deciding contest and four innings of work from the mound, Brebner-Russ took out the series MVP.
It was the Saints third flag in six seasons, while Henley’s premiership drought dating back to 1997 continues.
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Division one baseball results:
GAME ONE, on Saturday:
Sturt d Henley & Grange 4-1 (hits: Sturt – Brebner-Russ 3 (hr), Lightbody 2, Joyce 2, McArdle (hr), Mitchell, Farr, Garcia; H&G – Partington 2, Hernandez (hr), Clohessy. WP: K. Hampton; LP: J. Grose.
GAME TWO, on Sunday:
Sturt d Henley & Grange 8-7 (hits: Sturt – Knuckey 2, Joyce 2, Lightbody, Brebner-Russ (gshr), Mitchell, Altamura; H&G – Hernandez 2 (hr), Inglis 2 (hr), Clohessy 2, Partington, Garbella, Bull, Yonezawa, Couzner. WP: J. Tindall; LP: W. Lee).
