Back home on diamond 2 we took on Golden Grove on a warm afternoon when temperatures hovered around 38 degrees for most of the day. We started strongly with Bianca Smith in fine form on the mound throwing to Jojo Papadothomakos for the first time in weeks after Jojo's recovery from a niggling injury. A nice first inning from Bianca including a fantastic grab at third base by Nat Ziersch kept the Dodgers scoreless and we got ready to face GGCD’s pitcher.
The old saying good pitching beats good hitting is very often true in baseball and Golden Grove’s pitcher on Friday was very good. Striking out two and retiring Gemma Cassidy on a pop up to first base we knew we were in for a real pitchers duel after the first inning was complete: 0-0.
Golden Grove managed to squeeze a couple of 2 out RBIs in the second inning to jump out to an early lead. Things started promising for us in the bottom of the second as Bianca Smith crushed one to deep left for a lead off triple however the starter from Golden Grove knuckled down retiring the next two hitters by strike out before getting out of the inning unscathed with a fielders choice ground ball.
With Bianca still pitching strong we gifted the opposition a couple of un-earnt runs in the third inning and going into the bottom of the third we were chasing 4. Again the Dodgers pitcher offered nothing and despite a couple of quality at bats we were unable to trouble the scorers. With the WBL rules mandating no more than 9 outs per pitcher that was all she wrote for both starters.
We turned the ball over to Emily Pyke who pitched strongly for us but unfortunately we miss played a couple of balls and gave the Dodgers another four un-earnt runs. With time expiring and chasing 8 runs it was one of those rare times in baseball where you were playing with no chance to win the game – its very easy in these situations to check out early and limp towards the end of game. To see the ladies not only avoid this temptation but show the fight they did made me very proud.
Adele Munro-Chambers led the inning off and showed the way and the spirit needed fighting off a few pitches before standing her ground and taking a HBP and first base. After taking second base on a passed ball – Adele scored on Gemma Cassidy’s one out double over the head of center field. With Smith reaching base, Natalie Ziersch reached on an infield single – showing some real hustle to keep the pressure on. April Grava stepped up and smashed a ball to left scoring two and we were showing just how strong we could be and a great never give up attitude. We scored another on a passed ball before the inning and game ended with a final score of 8-4.
Whilst we weren't as crisp as recent weeks the ladies showed great fight - one the occasion we faced a pitcher that had it going strong on the day and we tip our cap to her. Its a tough game some times.
We have the bye during the final round this Friday so please join us at West Beach as we support our sisters who take on Golden Grove in their pursuit of instantaneous revenge for us. Best of luck ladies!
