GOODWOOD ROLL INTO GRAND FINAL

By Robert Laidlaw, 20-21 March 2021

WITH GREAT BATTING through its line-up and superb pitching, Goodwood steam-rolled its way into the 2021 division one baseball grand final, with 13-4 and 7-1 victories over Henley & Grange at West Lakes.

In both games the Indians worked to early leads and had too much firepower for Henley to overcome.

A four-run second inning laid the foundation of Saturday’s game one win, after hits to Dylan Child, Stefan Welch, Matt Hutchings, Brendan Pett, Josh Cakebread and Jeremy Cresswell.

The Rams made some noise in the bottom of the fourth with RBI hits to Koki Yonezawa and James Bell, to cut the margin to 5-2, then, after Goodwood added another run at the top of fifth, Henley’s Landon Hernandez smashed a two-run dinger, to close the gap to just two in the bottom of the fifth.

But the Indians exploded for five runs in the sixth, after four walks and hits to Riley Moore, Child, Welch and Owen Hughes, with another pair of tallies in the seventh to close out the scoring.

Liam Scott pitched six innings for the win, conceding seven hits for five strikeouts.

Game two was all about the pitching. In the first week of finals it was veteran Darren Fidge who led the Indians to victory, this time it was another wily vet, John Challinor, who pitched a complete game to guide Goodwood to a 7-1 win.

Challinor gave up just five hits for five strikeouts over nine innings, on 98 pitches – 75 strikes! He did not walk a batter, and only threw three balls to one hitter, the last of the game, but he came back from a 0-3 count to get the out.

And with the bat the Indians were on fire, especially through the first four digs, scoring two runs in the first frame and single tallies in the second and third.

The highlights of the first inning were Jeremy Cresswell’s single and doubles by Riley Moore and Stefan Welch. In the second Josh Cakebread had a RBI single and in the third Matt Hutchings also had a RBI hit.

While the 4-0 start held up over the next few digs, Landon Hernandez finally put the Rams on the scoreboard with a solo dinger in the seventh, which Goodwood responded to in the eighth, when Child smashed a two-run home run followed by Welch’s solo shot.

The Indians now have a chance of equalling Kensington’s record of six grand final victories in the 21st century.

Goodwood won premiership deciders in 2000, 2003, 2006, 2013 and 2018. The Cardinals were successful in 2004, 2010-12, and 2014-15 – they also won last season without a grand final.

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RESULTS

Goodwood d Henley & Grange 13-4 (hits: Goodwood – Child 3, Welch 3, Hutchings 3, Hughes 3 Pett 2, Cakebread, Cresswell, Moore; H&G – Partington 3, Bull, Hernandez (hr), Weber, Yonezawa, Bell, Bradfield. WP: L. Scott; LP: W. DeJong).

Goodwood d Henley & Grange 7-1 (hits: Goodwood – Moore 3, Cakebread 2, Cresswell 2, Welch 2 (hr), Hutchings 2, Child (hr), Pett; H&G – Acosta 2, Burrows, Hernandez (hr), Weber. WP: J. Challinor; LP: J. Grose.