Rob's Wrap Up - Round 14

BASEBALL (January 27, 2024)

CAKEBREAD WALKS IT OFF

By Robert Laidlaw

IT WAS A BIG DAY in division one baseball for Josh Cakebread, who ended it with a walk-off RBI single to help Goodwood beat East Torrens 7-6 in 10 innings at Mortlock Park.

With the scores locked together at 6-6 after the regulation nine frames, the Redsox failed to score in the top of the 10th, which opened the door for Goodwood.

Cakebread stepped to the plate with the placed runner on second base and hit the ball up the middle, to end the tight contest.

It seemed whenever the Indians were mounting a scoring challenge through the game, Cakebread seemed to always be in the mix.

In the bottom of the opening dig, RBI doubles to Cakebread and Tom Fiebig staked the home team to a 2-0 lead.

Then in the bottom of the third inning, hits to Jeremy Cresswell, Hunter Cooper and Brodie Heeps saw another two runs, which doubled Goodwood’s lead.

From the mound, Indians starter Jack Bushell was virtually unhittable, as he faced the minimum nine batters in three innings of work, collecting eight strikeouts.

With Bushell’s exit from the game, East Torrens started to find some form with the bat, and at the top of the fourth scored a run, after Carter Powell doubled and came home on Aiden Lucas’ RBI single.

But the Indians had the response in the bottom of the fourth, when Matt Hutchings hit a two-bagger, stole third base and came home on Cakebread’s sacrifice fly.

The Redsox took advantage of three walks, Charlie Ashcroft’s RBI grounder and Luke Chandler’s RBI hit, to close the gap to 5-3 at the top of the sixth.

A huge change came over the game at the top of the eighth frame, when Troy Chandler doubled, Ashcroft hit a RBI single, Travis Underhill singled, Luke Chandler bunted, which was followed by two walks and a Lucas sac fly, for three runs and an East Torrens 6-5 lead.

Under the pump, Goodwood managed to tie up the ball game in the bottom of the eighth, after Hutchings ran out an infield hit, was bunted to second base by Grif Weber and came home on Cakebread’s hit up the middle – as he rehearsed for his extra inning heroics!

IT WAS A NAIL-BITER AT Christies Beach, where Sturt managed a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over Southern Districts.

The Saints scored twice at the top of the first inning, after two walks, Dayton Mitchell’s RBI single and Jackson Brebner-Russ’ sac fly.

But in the bottom of the second frame, the Hawks mounted a two-out rally, after Brett Hattersley walked, with Nick Hutchings, Carey McLeod and Jake Campbell collecting RBI hits, for three runs and a 3-2 lead.

At the top of the fifth dig Sturt managed to draw level, when Zac Altamura ran out an infield hit, stole second base, and came home on Mitch Lightbody’s two-out hit.

Then at the top of the ninth, Brebner-Russ singled, and after two groundouts, an error saw the go-ahead run score for the Saints, with South unable to respond.

Sturt starter Matt Williams threw six innings for five hits and seven strikeouts, while Austin McClure collected the win, after three strikeouts outs in two frames.

Evan Soules did a great job from the mound for the Hawks, conceding four hits for 10 K2s in seven innings.

IT WAS CLOSE MOST of the game before Henley & Grange pulled away for a 7-1 victory over Glenelg at West Lakes.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Jay Couzner singled and came home after a pair of errors for the first run of the game, with the Rams 1-0 lead holding up until the bottom of the seventh frame, when Landon Hernadez hit a two-run home run in Henley’s three-run rally, for a 4-0 lead.

At the top of the eighth dig, the Tigers managed a run, on Jacob Eldridge’s RBI single, but hits to Patrick Inglis, Phil Acosta and Jack Partington in the bottom of the eighth helped the Rams score another three times to pad out the scoreline.

Wilson Lee pitched eight innings for the win, conceding three hits for 12 strikeouts.

Glenelg starter Troy Harrison threw four innings for four hits and three strikeouts but left the game with two runners on and no outs in the fifth frame, so took the loss.

FOR SOME REASON KENSINGTON has hit some good form, which saw the Cardinals beat Adelaide 11-3 at Erindale.

The writing was on the wall in the opening inning, when Kensington scored four times in the bottom of the frame, after Nick Platten’s single, two walks, Riley Moore’s two-run double, Tyler Butterwick’s sac fly and Austin Hassani’s RBI single.

Trailing 5-0, Adelaide scored a run at the top of the fifth on Chris Congdon’s dinger, then took advantage of four free passes and an error in the sixth to cut the deficit to just two, at 5-3.

But the Cardinals responded with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, on Nick Platten’s RBI single and Austin Gallagher’s two-run homer.

An error gifted Kensington a run in the seventh, and in the eighth, Mike Bishop smashed a home run and Hassani had a RBI double.

Ali Tanner started on the mound for the Cardinals and conceded two hits for six strikeouts in five innings to claim the win.

WOODVILLE HAD A SCARE before triumphing 2-1 against Golden Grove Central Districts at Findon.

In the bottom of the opening frame, lead-off batter Drew Janssen doubled, and number two hitter Nick Kuhn hit a RBI single, for a 1-0 Senators lead.

When the Dodgers responded at the top of the second, after Josh Conry hit a two-out double and scored on Tyler Green’s single, the game was tied at 1-1, but the tension never ceased for the remainder of the game.

That 1-1 scoreline remained until in the bottom of the sixth, when the only other run of the game was scored, when Troy Nicholson walked, Mitch Fienemann singled, and with two out, Joel Chapman and Daniel Chapman were hit by pitches to force in a run.

AJ Verastegui pitched eight innings for the win, conceding four hits for six strikeouts, while reliever Troy Nicholson took care of business in the ninth for Woodville, striking out the three batters he faced.

In his six digs from the mound, the Dodgers hurler Nathan Holt conceded six hits for five K2s.

IT WAS ANOTHER surprising close call at Semaphore, where Port Adelaide managed to pull off a 4-2 win over Northern Districts, after scoring twice in its last at bat.

In the opening frame, Naoya Kondo led off with a walk for the Reds, Tom Fraser was hit by a pitch, Phil Whelan bunted and Nick Clifton had a RBI single for a 1-0 lead.

The Magpies tied up the ballgame in the bottom of the third, after Michael Schrapel reached base on an error, Nick Vasic singled, Brodie Arriola bunted the runners across and Flynn McKee hit a sac fly.

Port then took the lead 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth, after Vasic walked, Arriola singled, a double steal, and Sammy Steigert’s sac fly.

But North was able to draw level at the top of the eighth, when Phil Whelan doubled and scored on an error.

It wasn’t pretty but the Magpies managed to score twice in the bottom of the eighth. Steigert had an infield hit, stole second base, and went to third on a wild pitch. Jack Stead walked and stole second, with Will Paech batting one run in with his ground-out, and a second coming home on a wild pitch.

Port starter Jesse Stemberger threw seven innings for three hits and 10 strikeouts, while Zane Tomaszek did the job for North through the first five frames before being relieved.

A CLOSE GAME WAS BROKEN open by a seven-run bottom of the fourth, as West Torrens cruised to a 12-1 victory over Gawler Rangers at Lockleys.

The Rangers scored the game’s first run at the top of the third frame, after an error, Boyd Worden’s single and Aiden Prokopec’s sac fly.

But then with one out in the bottom of the fourth dig, the next eight batters all got on base for the Eagles, including hits to Mason Clavel, Jacob Scott, Nico Vanderlinden (two-run single), Jude Barker (two-run single), Oscar Weber (two-run dinger) and Jasper Clark.

Scott had a RBI single in the fifth, while Barker smashed a two-run home run in the seventh and Tyrone Hambley did the same in the eighth.

James Snelgrove pitched six innings for the win, conceding three hits for eight strikeouts.

* * * * *

Division one baseball results:

Goodwood d East Torrens 7-6 in 10 innings (hits: Goodwood – Cakebread 3, Cresswell 3, Hutchings 2, Heeps 2, Paech 2, Weber, Fiebig, Cooper, Fidge; ET – Powell 2, Lucas 2, L. Chandler 2, Sanderson, T. Chandler, Ashcroft, Underhill. WP: K. Takahashi; LP: C. Ashcroft).

Kensington d Adelaide 11-3 (hits: Kensington – Hassani 3, N. Platten 2, Moore 2, Gallagher (hr), Bishop (hr), T. Butterwick, L. Spratt, Tanner; Adelaide – Pace, Damon, Ganley, Congdon (hr). WP: A. Tanner; LP: H. Batchelor).

Woodville d Golden Grove Central Districts 2-1 (hits: Woodville – Janssen 2, Fienemann 2, Kuhn, Moore, S. Chapman; GGCD – Conry 2, Green, Rodgers. WP: AJ Verastegui; LP: N. Holt).

Sturt d Southern Districts 4-3 (hits: Sturt – D. Mitchell 2, Lightbody, Joyce, Brebner-Russ, Altamura; South – Campbell 2, Hutchings 2, McLeod. WP: A. McClure; LP: M. Johnston).

Henley & Grange d Glenelg 7-1 (hits: H&G – Partington 2, Inglis 2, Hernandez (hr), Yonezawa, Couzner, Acosta; Glenelg – Hill 2, Mathews, Boyce, Eldridge. WP: W. Lee; LP: T. Harrison).

Port Adelaide d Northern Districts 4-2 (hits: Port – Vasic, Arrilla, Steigert, Stead, Paech; North – P. Whelan 2, Kondo, Clifton. WP: T. McKee; LP: N. Kondo).

West Torrens d Gawler Rangers 12-1 (hits: WT – Clavell 4, Ni. Vanderlinden 3, Scott 2, Barker 2 (hr), Clark, T. McGarry, Hambly (hr), Weber (hr); Gawler – Worden, Crawford, Bawden. WP: J. Snelgrove; LP: S. Heintze-Unger).

Premiership points: Henley & Grange 33, Adelaide 24, Sturt 22, West Torrens 22, Woodville 22, Port Adelaide 20, Southern Districts 16, Goodwood 15, Glenelg 15, East Torrens 14, Kensington 11, Gawler Rangers 6, GGCD 4, Northern Districts 2.

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BASEBALL (January 30, 2024)

TIGERS SHOCK WOODVILLE

By Robert Laidlaw

MAKING FULL USE OF its four hits, Glenelg surprised with a 2-1 mid-week victory over Woodville at Glenelg, in division one baseball

In the bottom of the second inning, Zane Judd singled and came home on a Rion Sato double. Then in the third, Briley Knight singled, went to second base on a wild throw and came home on Dylan Bentley’s hit up the middle, for a 2-0 lead.

That 2-0 lead held up until the top of the seventh frame, as the Senators only managed one hit to that point, but consecutive singles to Troy Nicholson, Mitch Fienemann, Wade Moore and Joel Chapman saw one run in with one out, but a double play ended the threat.

Jimmy Boyce pitched 6.1 innings for five hits and six strikeouts to claim the win, while Drew Janssen threw 5.1 frames for four hits and 10 K2s for the loss.

BOOK-END RALLIES fuelled Henley & Grange’s 8-5 victory over Gawler Rangers at Karbeethan Reserve.

Hits by Jack Partington, Liam Bull, Adam Rowe, Patrick Inglis, Jet Clohessy and Jay Couzner helped the Rams open with a five-run first inning.

In reply the Rangers managed a single run, after Boyd Worden singled and came home on Dylan Child’s hit, for one run.

The scores remained 5-1 until the bottom of the fourth, when Zac Heintze-Unger tripled and came home on Sam Bawden’s ground-out, to reduce the deficit.

With two out and two on at the top of the sixth and final dig, Henley all but secured the win with Partington’s three-run home run.

But Gawler refused to just surrender, and scored three runs in reply, after consecutive hits to Zac Heintze-Unger, Bawden, Brad Przibilla and Seb Heintze-Unger.

IN THE BATTLE OF THE Torrens, West beat East 4-0 at Payneham, in a tight contest.

The Eagles scored twice at the top of the fourth inning, on Nico Vanderlinden’s single, after Tom and Sam McGarry reached on free passes and were put in scoring position on Mason Clavell’s bunt.

Then in the fifth dig, Jude Barker doubled and came home on Clavell’s single to make it 4-0.

Clavell pitched five innings to claim the win, conceding four hits for four strikeouts.

A BIG SIX-RUN BOTTOM OF the third paved the way for Port Adelaide’s 7-1 victory over Kensington at Semaphore.

The Cardinals took an early lead with a run at the top of the first inning, after Nick Platten reached on an error, Austin Gallagher singled and Mike Bishop hit a sac fly.

An Ethan Murphy RBI double in the second frame tied up the ballgame, then the Magpies exploded with their winning rally in the third, helped by two walks, two hit batsmen, a KPB, an error and hits to Flynn McKee, Wil Paech and Murphy.

Sammy Steigert went the distance from the mound, conceding five hits for five strikeouts in seven innings.

A THREE-RUN DINGER by Stefan Welch was the highlight of Adelaide’s five-run fifth inning, in a come-from-behind 6-4 victory over Goodwood at Mortlock Park.

The Indians took an early lead on Matt Hutchings two-run home run at the bottom of the third frame.

Struggling with the bat through the first four digs, the Angels came alive at the top of the fifth. Ben Ganley and Nick Callaghan hit doubled, Chris Congdon was hit by a pitch, and after an error, Stefan Welch smashed his three-run home run.

At the top of the seventh and final frame, hits to Ty Forney and Welch set up Billy Damon’s sac fly to make it 6-2. But Goodwood still had some ‘petrol in the tank’ and a Brodie Heeps two-run dinger closed the gap.

Damon went the distance from the hill, conceding five hits for three strikeouts in seven innings.

ON THE BACK OF A combined no-hitter, Sturt beat Northern Districts 9-0 at Ingle Farm.

Tyson Ottaway started for the Saints and pitched 2.1 innings, for no hits and two strikeouts. Then Damon Arnold threw 3.2 frames for no hits and four K2s, while Terrell Joyce finished the job in the final dig, striking out one batter.

Sturt scored twice in the opening inning, after Harry Knuckey doubled, Joyce walked, Dayton Mitchell had a RBI single and Jackson Brebner-Russ hit a sac fly.

Then in the third frame the Saints brought out the ‘big guns’, as Joyce smashed a three-run home run and Mitchell made it back-to-back dingers with his solo shot.

Knuckey hit a two-run home run in the fourth dig, while Mitchell had a RBI single in the sixth.

While the Reds could not get anything started in the batting box, their outfield shone, as Steven Matulic took three catches and had two assists from leftfield, while in rightfield, Nick Clifton held on to three chances and had an assist.

IN A HIGH-SCORING GAME, Southern Districts fought back twice to beat Golden Grove Central Districts 13-11 at Illyarrie Reserve.

The Dodgers scored twice in the bottom of the opening inning, on Josh Conry’s RBI single and Jake Shotton’s sac fly.

Then at the bottom of the third the Dodgers doubled their advantage with two runs, helped by three errors, to go 4-0 up.

South then mounted a huge rally that realised seven runs at the top of the fourth to grab a 7-4 lead, with Luke Hansen’s two-run double and Brett Hattersley’s two-run dinger the highlights.

But the fourth inning proved a long one, when the Dodgers answered with five runs in the bottom of the frame, with Jake Shotton’s grand slam home run doing most of the damage.

Then at the top of the sixth and final dig, the Hawks had another big rally, with six runs, after consecutive hits to Ben Short, Byron Turner, Nick Hutchings and Carey McLeod set up the 13-9 lead.

Still, the Dodgers had to bat in the bottom of the sixth but only managed a pair of runs, on Kynan Skein’s RBI double and Shotton’s RBI ground-out – his sixth RBI of the game!

* * * * *

Division one baseball results:

Henley & Grange d Gawler Rangers 8-5 (hits: H&G – Partington 2 (hr), Rowe 2, Bull, Inglis, Clohessy, Couzner, Acosta; Gawler – Worden 2, Z. Heintze-Unger 2, Bawden, Schreier, Child, Przibilla. WP: J. Grose; LP: N. Antoine).

Glenelg d Woodville 2-1 (hits: Glenelg – Knight, Bentley, Judd, Sato; Woodville – Fienemann 2, T. Nicholson, Moore, J. Chapman. WP: J. Boyce; LP: D. Janssen).

Port Adelaide d Kensington 7-1 (hits: Port – Murphy 2, F. McKee, Steigert, Paech, Bird; Kensington – Gallagher 2, N. Platten, Bishop, Hassani. WP: S. Steigert; LP: A. Hassani).

Sturt d Northern Districts 9-0 (hits: Sturt – D. Mitchell 3 (hr), Knuckey 2 (hr), Joyce 2 (hr), Lightbody, Macbeth, Altamura, Dawson; North – none. WP: D. Arnold; LP: P. Whelan).

Southern Districts d Golden Grover Central Districts 13-11 (hits: South – Campbell 2, Turner 2, McLeod 2, Hansen, Hattersley (hr), N. Paparella, Short, Hutchings; GGCD – Conry 2, Skein 2, Shotton (hr), Manzella, Wallis, Green. WP: T. Stevens; LP: T. Green).

West Torrens d East Torrens 4-0 (hits: WT – Ni. Vanderlinden 2, Barker 2, Clark, Clavell; ET – Underhill 2, Probert, Lucas, Stewart. WP: M. Clavell; LP: Z. Stroud).

Adelaide d Goodwood 6-4 (hits: Adelaide – Welch 2 (hr), Forney, Damon, Ganley, Callaghan; Goodwood – Heeps 2, Hutchings (hr), Cooper, Paech. WP: B. Damon; LP: T. Fitzgerald).

Premiership points: Henley & Grange 35, Adelaide 26, Sturt 24, West Torrens 24, Woodville 22, Port Adelaide 22, Southern Districts 18, Glenelg 17, Goodwood 15, East Torrens 14, Kensington 11, Gawler Rangers 6, GGCD 4, Northern Districts 2