Rob's Wrap Up - Round 3

BASEBALL (October 28, 2023)

HAWKS TRIUMPH LATE

By Robert Laidlaw

IT TOOK 11 INNINGS FOR Southern Districts to beat Port Adelaide 5-4 at Semaphore in Saturday’s round three division one baseball matches.

The game was a tightly fought contest, with six lead changes, as scores were tied three times.

South scored a run at the top of the opening frame, after Carey McLeod walked, stole second base, went to third on a wild pitch and came home on Jake Campbell’s grounder.

But the Magpies fought back with a pair of runs in the second frame, after hits to Todd Trebilcock, Flynn McKee, Jack Suchier and Will Paech.

The Hawks evened the contest in the fourth on Ben Short’s RBI double, and went 3-2 up in the fifth dig, after a two-out error, Nic Paparella’s single and a wild pitch.

Then in the sixth Port made it a 3-3 ballgame, after Jack Stead walked, stole second base and scored on McKee’s hit.

A hit batter, an intentional walk, an error and a couple of fielders’ choices saw South grab the lead 4-3 with a run at the top of the seventh frame.

And, again, the game became tied, when in the bottom of the ninth Sam Steigert singled and eventually scored off Paech’s sac fly, sending the game into extra innings.

Neither side could score in the 10th dig, but the Hawks inched ahead with a run at the top of the 11th, when Ben Jones, who was placed on second base, went to third on Drew Davies’ bunt and came home on McLeod’s long fly ball to centrefield.

Now it was the Magpies’ chance to get back into the game in the bottom of the 11th. Cameron Keats was placed at second base, McKee bunted, but South pitcher Nick Hutchings struck out the next batter and induced the final out on an infield grounder.

NICK PLATTEN ACHIEVED a rare feat in Kensington’s huge 14-0 victory over Gawler Rangers at Erindale – he belted two grand slam home runs!

But while Platten’s effort is significant, it was almost overshadowed, as teenage pitcher Ali Tanner took a no-hitter into the final inning before it was broken up by Gawler coach Dylan Child’s single.

And another performance of note that was dwarfed by Platten’s heroics was the Cardinals Austin Gallagher’s pair of two-run home runs.

Platten hit his first grand slam in the opening frame and his second in the sixth, while Gallagher connected for a two-run dinger in the second dig and another in the fourth.

As for Tanner, he pitched six innings for one hit and two walks for 11 strikeouts – he left the game at the top of the seventh and final frame after surrendering a hit to the lead-off batter.

THERE WERE 22 RUNS and 25 hits in the Woodville versus Henley & Grange clash at Findon but no winner, as the teams fought out an 11-inning, 11-11 draw.

It was all the Rams early, as they scored four runs in the opening frame, after hits to Jack Partington, Koki Yonezawa, Liam Bull (a two-run home run) and Tyson Arnold.

Lee Wilson had a RBI double in the second dig to make it 5-0, with the Senators scoring their first run at the bottom of the third.

That 5-1 scoreline remained until the bottom of the seventh, when Cesar Perez breathed new life into the game with a three-run dinger, to cut the lead to just one run, at 4-5.

But Henley created some space with a pair of runs at the top of the eighth, on Lee’s two-run single, to make it 7-4.

In the bottom of the ninth and final frame, Woodville sent shockwaves through the Rams’ camp, when it scored three times to level the game and force extra innings, Drew Janssen’s two-run home run the big shot.

Then it looked like Henley was heading for a win when it scored four times at the top of the 10th, Yonezawa’s sac fly and Patrick Inglis’ two-run double doing most of the damage.

Again, it was the long ball that saved the Senators from defeat, when they also scored four runs in the bottom of the 10th, Wade Moore’s three-run bomb the highlight.

An exciting out at home plate robbed the Rams of the go-ahead run at the top of the 11th, while Woodville had its placed runner picked off in the bottom of the dig, as neither side scored and fading light ended the game at 11-11.

WEST TORRENS CAME FROM behind to beat Golden Grove Central Districts 6-4 in a close encounter at Lockleys.

A scoreless contest was broken open at the top of the fourth frame, when Tyler Green doubled and scored on Tom Walsh’s single to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.

The Eagles then had an explosive bottom of the fifth, scoring four times, after hits to Nico Vanderlinden, Tom McGarry and Mason Clavell, as well as a two-run error.

But the Dodgers responded at the top of the sixth with three runs to tie up the ballgame. Josh Conry and Tyler Green hit singles, Tom Walsh had two-run double and Isaac Pearce had a RBI hit.

In the bottom of the sixth West Torrens regained the lead after a pair of walks and Clavell’s RBI single up the middle, with the final run in the seventh courtesy of a pair of errors, to win 6-4.

Will Kortekaas started for the Eagles and threw five innings for four hits and 10 strikeouts in a solid outing.

STURT AND ADELAIDE BATTLED out a hitters’ game, with the Saints prevailing 15-12 at Plympton.

There were 32 hits gather by both teams, with Sturt collecting 17 and the Angels 15, with seven innings including multiple runs.

Mitch Lightbody’s three-run home run was the highlight of Sturt’s five-run fourth frame, while in a four-run fifth, Jordan McArdle had a two-run double and Dayton Mitchell had a RBI two-bagger.

Adelaide scored three runs in three separate digs – the first, sixth and eighth. The first featured doubles by Max Tracey and Henry Cann, the highlight of the sixth was Tracey’s two-run, two-bagger, while in the eighth, Billy Damon and Henry Cann had run scoring hits.

EAST TORRENS HAD THE edge on Northern Districts at Payneham to record a 4-0 victory.

A scoreless game until the bottom of the third frame, the Redsox broke the ice with their first run, after Dalton Probert walked, stole second base and came home on Carter Powell’s double.

Then in the fourth inning, Aiden Lucas walked, Luke Chandler singled and Probert hit a two-run triple, to stake East Torrens to a 3-0 lead, which was increased by one in the sixth, after two hit batsmen and an error.

Lindsay Barbery pitched six digs to claim the win, conceding two hits for five strikeouts.

Todd Marshall started for the Reds and gave up six hits in five frames for two K2s. North centrefielder Tom Fraser took five catches and threw a runner out at second base.

A LATE CHARGE BY Glenelg wasn’t enough to overtake Goodwood at Mortlock Park, with the Indians hanging on for a 6-4 victory.

At the bottom of the first Goodwood scored its first run, after hits to Brodie Heeps, Matt Hutchings and Griff Weber. Then in the third dig the Indians raced to a 5-0 lead, after hits to Hutchings, Weber, Tom Fiebig, Peter Paech and Josh Cakebread.

Consecutive two-out hits to Jaikob Mathews and Zane Judd saw the Tigers finally score their first run at the top of the fifth, while Goodwood had the answer an inning later, when Nick Carfora singled, stole second, advance to third on Fiebig’s hit and came home on a wild pitch, to make it 6-1.

Glenelg put the pressure on at the top of the seventh dig when it loaded the bases with none out, after Briley Knight was hit by a pitch, and singles to Mathews and Judd. A strikeout was followed by Dylan Bentley’s two-run single and Alex Steff’s RBI hit, before a double play ended the threat.

Evergreen veteran Darren Fidge pitched 1.2 innings of no-hit ball to claim the win, while the Indians starter Jack Bushell threw four frames for three hits and seven strikeouts.

Glenelg rightfielder Tom Huttunen had a busy day with six catches – five in the first four innings.

* * * * *

Division one baseball results:

Southern Districts d Port Adelaide 5-4 in 11 innings (hits: South – McLeod, Campbell, N. Paparella, Shirt, Turner; Port – F. McKee 2, Paech 2, Trebilcock, Steigert, Suchier. WP: N. Hutchings; LP: S. Steigert).

Kensington d Gawler Rangers 14-0 (hits: Kensington – L. Spratt 3, Moore 3, Gallagher 2 (2 hr), N. Platten 2, J. Platten 2 (2 gshr), Butternick, Tanner; Gawler – Child. WP: A. Tanner; LP: N. Antoine).

Henley & Grange tied Woodville 11-11 in 11 innings (hits: H&G – Partington 4, Lee 3, Bull 2 (hr), Inglis 2, Yonezawa, Hernandez, Arnold, Clohessy; Woodville – Janssen 2 (hr), Taheny 2, Moore (hr), Perez (hr), Fienmann, J. Chapman, Bravo, Kuhn).

West Torrens d Golden Grove Central Districts 6-4 (hits: WT – Ni. Vanderlinden 3, T. McGarry 2, S. McGarry 2, Clavell 2, Clark, Hambly; GGCD – Green 3, Pearce 2, Walsh 2, Conry. WP: B. Marsh; LP: B. Caskey).

Sturt d Adelaide 15-12 (hits: Sturt – Lightbody 4 (hr), McArdle 3, Day. Mitchell 3, Garcia 2, Knuckey, Altmura, Brebner-Russ, MacBeth, Dawson; Adelaide – Tracey 2, Damon 2, Cann 2, Chapman 2, Congdon 2, Forney, Welch, Smith, Edwards, Pace. WP: J. Tindall; LP: N. Callaghan).

East Torrens d Northern Districts 4-0 (hits: ET – Stewart, Lester, Powell, Underhill, Chandler, Probert; North – Fraser, Tomaszek, P. Whelan, Hee, Maguire. WP: L. Barbery; LP: T. Marshall).

Goodwood d Glenelg 6-4 (hits: Goodwood – Fiebig 3, Paech 3, Heeps 2, Carfora 2, Hutchings 2, Weber 2, Takahashi 2, Cakebread; Glenelg – Knight 2, Mathews 2, Judd 2, Reid 2, Bentley, Steff. WP: D. Fidge; LP: J. Eldridge).

Premiership points: Sturt 6, Henley & Grange 5, Goodwood 5, Glenelg 4, East Torrens 4, Southern Districts 4, West Torrens 4, Adelaide 2, Gawler Rangers 2, GGCD 2, Kensington 2, Woodville 1, Port Adelaide 0, Northern Districts 0.