Welcoming Emily Pyke back for her first hit out of the season we wasted no time in introducing her into the attack as she took the ball and started the game for us from up on the mound. As we had grown to expect after a great initial season last year Emily consistently challenged the opposition with strikes giving her defence a chance to stay involved and on their toes.
After giving up a leadoff single Emily induced a ground ball to third base and April Grava calmly as can be fielded the ball and threw to Jasmine at second to retire the lead off runner, the next hitter grounded out to Jasmine at second base who took the clever option to flip to this week’s shortstop (Jenny Dunn) to again take care of the lead out and what could have been a threatening start to the game quickly settled into a scoreless inning giving our guys momentum and confidence as we prepared to bat.
Showing increased poise our guys took advantage of the walks when offered and hit the ball healthily when given the opportunity. Recording our first 7 run mercy inning of the season with Jenny Dunn’s RBI double and Natalie Ziersch’s RBI single two of the highlights.
Any thoughts Adelaide had in trying to wrestle back momentum was doomed as Emily continued her dominance on the hill and backed up solidly by her defence a very quick top of the second kept the pressure all on the Angels. Their pitcher showed tremendous promise in the second inning getting two quick outs before we came away with two fortunate runs, pushing our lead out to 9-0.
That was all for Emily who gave us a wonderful start and the opportunity to ease her back into the season after missing opening day. Turning the ball over to Bianca Smith we managed to keep our momentum up by escaping a bases loaded situation giving up just the one run.
From there we kept the pressure up as we got into the Angels bullpen, with another 7 run inning again highlighted by another deep double off the bat of Jenny Dunn. This wrapped up proceedings as we ran out of time taking a confidence building 16-1 victory.
Jojo Papadothomakos was again fantastic behind the plate helping our pitchers with a couple of great blocks and a wonderful over the shoulder catch on a pop up to retire one of Adelaide’s most dangerous hitters.
Special mention also on the debut of our team’s newest member – Bella Qualmann who it’s safe to say is the cutest batgirl in the league.
Come on down to the bay Friday (November 7th) at 6pm as we battle another of the leagues non club teams in the WBL Purple Thunder. This looks like the first opportunity we will have with our full team on deck this season and we are looking forward to a cracker of a contest.
The first game of the season for the new Tigers team on the block after watching the first week of baseball from the stands, nerves were high but the excitement in the air was enough to bring them down. With a new team brings new faces with likes of Em Parker, Jo-Anna Kenney, Michelle Smith and Kelly Langley putting on the black and yellow for the first time.
Alex Meldrum took the mound to start the year for us and with a 10-pitch inning we were off to a great start with solid fielding and catching by Cheryl Burke with a solid throw to first we shut down the Hurricanes in the 1st innings. We came out swinging with the bats making our way through the first 6 in our line-up with first gamer Jo-Anna Kenny getting her first hit of the year followed by Rebecca Bond collecting hers as well. The ladies where not shy of flexing their muscle but we were in unable to capitalise on our solid position.
The 2nd inning provided some challenges for us as a few of the Hurricanes players got a hold of some of the pitches but this wasn’t enough to deter the ladies with some solid fielding and link up plays from Sarah Wright and Alison Hall. It was a real learning curve for some of the ladies during the 2nd inning but they did not drop their heads once. Emma Young and Heidi Bruggerman showed poise in the infield holding the team together with some solid encouragement.
We were unable to bother the scorers in the 2nd inning with a quick 3 up 3 down but we shook that of and went back in to the field, with our first gamer Michelle Smith and Kelly Langley coming in to the game. Jo-Anna Kenney took the mound for the first time ever and struck her first batter out after finding her aim on the mound. Alison Hall came in to 2nd and almost to a spectacular catch which popped out at the last second which turned in to a double play but they didn’t stop there and managed to chase down another runner for a 4th out unfortunately it did count but I love the enthusiasm.
Sarah Wright, Alison Hall, Emma Parker along with Heidi Bruggerman flashed there glove skills in the infield and performed very well with the bat. The ladies in the outfield played a solid game providing exceptional support and good link up plays with there throws.
Fridays night game provide us with a lot of firsts from Hitting, double plays, strike outs and stolen bases (when they choose to….) and first games. For our first game together as a team we played outstandingly didn’t make an error in the field and we swung the bats the score did not reflect the true outcome of the game the ladies played exceptionally well through out and can hold there heads high and look forward to next week when we play the Adelaide Angels at 6.00pm at Glenelg. Big thank you to Marie Davis for assisting myself and Tom on the bench, and to Les Pickett for scoring you help is much appreciated!!! To our supporters who came out we look forward to seeing you again this week
