LANDON’S ONE-MAN SHOW

By Robert Laidlaw

HE DID IT ALL! Henley & Grange beat Glenelg 6-0 at West Lakes on the back of Landon Hernandez’s arm and bat.

Hernandez pitched a complete game shutout, surrendering just one hit and one walk for six strikeouts, over seven innings.

But if that wasn’t enough, Landon also did the job with his bat, smashing two home runs and collecting a walk from three trips to the plate.

In the second frame Kosei Suzuki put the Rams on the board with a two-run single, while Hernandez’s solo dinger in the fourth made it 3-0.

To finish the game’s scoring, a three-run fifth was highlighted by a two-run fence-buster from the ‘man of the hour’, Hernandez.

ANOTHER GAME FEATURING one man’s bat, was the Sturt versus Goodwood thriller at Mitcham, where Rixon Wingrove hit a walk-off, three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh to give the Saints a 7-6 victory.

But that wasn’t all Wingrove had mustered with his bat on the night.

After Goodwood went 3-0 up in the second inning, Wingrove pulled his side back into the game with a two-run dinger in the fourth frame and a RBI single in the sixth, to make the scoreline 3-3.

It then looked like the Indians had made the game safe with three runs in the top of the seventh, after a RBI single to Brendan Pett and Matt Hutchings’ two-run double – 6-3 Goodwood.

Sturt mounted a fightback in the bottom of the final frame when Sonny Beaumont doubled and came home on Mitch Lightbody’s single. Then Jordan McArdle hit to set up Wingrove’s heroics – he of the walk-off king variety as per the Giants recent ABL season!

THERE HAVEN’T BEEN too many good news stories coming out of Southern Districts recently, but Hamish Rees’ one-hitter to guide the Hawks to a 3-0 home victory over Adelaide was ‘stop the presses’ worthy.

Rees pitched the complete game, striking out six batters while conceding just one walk to go with that single hit he surrendered.

South scored single runs in the first (Ben Jones RBI groundout), second (Ben Short double and Nick Rees RBI single) and fifth (Carey McLeod steal of home) innings.

THE BIG BATS CAME out in Kensington’s 10-0 victory over Port Adelaide, behind Tom Fitzgerald’s shutout performance on the hill.

Fitzgerald pitched five innings for five hits and three strikeouts in his best outing of the season.

With the bat, Austin Gallagher belted a two-run dinger in the first dig and a two-run double in the fifth, while Bas Nooij hit a three-run shot in the second and Mike Bishop circled the bases with a solo homer in the fourth.

GOLDEN GROVE CENTRAL DISTRICTS proved too good for Northern Districts, with an 8-1 victory at Ingle Farm.

Matt Phillips set up the Dodgers’ first run with a big double in the opening frame, consecutive RBI hits to Jake Campbell and Josh Conry in the second made it 3-0, while a four-run fourth, highlighted by Campbell’s two-run single, made the game safe.

Adenson Verastegui pitched six innings for six hits and 10 strikeouts to claim the win, while Josh Conry led the batting with three hits for the Dodgers.

A LATE CHARGE padded out East Torrens’ 6-0 victory over Woodville, which struggled to get its bats moving.

The game’s key player was Redsox hurler Riley Yeatman, who threw seven innings for three hits and seven strikeouts.

Hits from Rhys Lounder, Jack Higginbotham and Riley Yeatman scored East Torrens’ first run in the second dig. Then in the sixth, Zac Heintze-Unger singled, stole second base and scored on Higginbotham hit to make it 2-0.

The top of the seventh put the Redsox lead out of reach, with big two-run hits from Charlie Ashcroft and Heintze-Unger.

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RESULTS:

East Torrens d Woodville 6-0 (hits: ET – Heintze-Unger 3, Probert 2, Higginbotham 2, Yeatman 2, Stewart, Ashcroft, Lounder; Woodville – Moore, D. Chapman, Abbott. WP: R. Yeatman; LP: J. Chapman).

GGCD d Northern Districts 8-1 (hits: GGCD – Conry 3, Campbell 2, Phillips, Perez, Hannam, Murphy, Keats; North – Howell 2, Maguire, Lees, Fraser, Dziego, Maturic. WP: A. Verastegui; LP: Z. Tomaszek).

Sturt d Goodwood 7-6 (hits: Sturt – Wingrove 3 (2 hr), Lightbody 2, McArdle, Roeger, Beaumont; Goodwood – Cresswell 3, Hutchings 2, Christiansen 2, Cakebread, Pett, Welch, Heeps. WP: T. Chappell; LP: D. Fidge).

Southern Districts d Adelaide 3-0 (hits: South – Hutchings 2, Short 2, Turner, Hattersley, McLeod, N. Rees; Adelaide – Congdon. WP: H. Rees; LP: H. Batchelor).

Henley & Grange d Glenelg 6-0 (hits: H&G – Hernandez 2 (hr), Partington 2, Weber, Yonezawa, K. Suzuki, Acosta; Glenelg – Ross. WP: L. Hernandez; LP: T. Harrison).

Kensington d Port Adelaide 10-0 (hits: Kensington – Gallagher 2 (hr), Nooij 2 (hr), Allen 2, Whelan 2, Maple, Bishop (hr), Carfora; Port – Stead, Arriola, Rackebrandt, Duenn, Schrapel. WP: T. Fitzgerald; LP: Z. Esca).

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Premiership points: West Torrens 12, Kensington 12, Sturt 12, Henley & Grange 10, East Torrens 10, Goodwood 10, Woodville 6, Port Adelaide 6, Adelaide 6, GGCD 4, Southern Districts 4, Glenelg 4, Northern Districts 0.