We are off to the big dance.
West Torrens at West Torrens are bogey team standing in the way of another crack at the title. No worries
We got the ball rolling in the top of the first with a two out double to pickles and single to Mags scoring him.
Jayden got the start for us and was able to keep the West Torrens bats at bay through 5 innings of awesome work Burns came in and shut out the heart of their line-up to keep us in front through his 2 innings of work and Hayden finished the job over the last two.
Bays win 11 -6
Everybody played their hearts out little things like Tom H sprinting after the ball in the gap to stop a sure double Joe Gluyas not giving up on the ball and making two excellent catches diving forward and the big guy at right catching everything hit out to him kept us in front all day.
We scored are runs as mentioned before in the first and two 5 run innings. We had great at bats all day which was shown in the score book with everybody contributing. Jacob squeeze bunt showed you don’t need to get a hit to do a job.
Highlights in the box where Rion smashing two hits to left Mags going three for and the big unit Alec Steff proving you can hit homeruns to right which gave us big momentum swinging the game into are favour.
I mentioned after the game against Kensington that it was clearly boys playing men. This time round it’s going to be men playing men.
Bring it on
WHAT A GAME
This was one of the classic battles, it will be remember as one of the best games of junior baseball in SA history.
I have attached the game changer report alone my personal report for complete accuracy. Thanks to our scorer Les Picket
Flynn started and again he was on the job completely dominating as he did in the previous 2 finals , he held then scoreless ,what a final series he has had!
Rion came in to win the game and with a steely mentality went to work, he was solid and didn’t give the West Torrens hitters anything, a great effort, Adam as catcher managed Flynn and Rion with complete confidence, Flynn and Rion will go up next season so we have Harry and Coop blooded, ready to take over.
Fielding a few small mistakes but as a team got it done. Henry lead the way in the outfield with a catch that saved our butts, Coop and Matty also took good catches and were solid, outfielding in the past month has been faultless, anything that goes out there just get handled. In a Div one type manner.
I felt Darcy's infielding was brilliant he took a catch running backward not knowing if the outfielders were there or not. This displayed his toughness, he was very determine to play well and give his team every chance to win, he also double down the line to put us in a winning position. Darcy mentally is very tough! this is a trait baseballer’s have to have .
I have to give credit to the West Torrens pitching we had trouble hitting them because they did there job so hats off to them, We then had to play the short game, Odin had an excellent time at bat by picking a walk when the advance bunt was on and Coop putting a good bunt down laid the bed. Blake’s base running was good again this kids runs well .
Bottom of the 12th Flynn tripled ,Darcy double to tie game and Odin / Coops good times in the box all came together for our Pirie star Riley to drive the winner in ,Riley improved each time he came to the plate and what a thrill for the team ,his family and especially himself to hit the walk off. Good onya Riley well done
Overall we got it done! I personal could not have been prouder of the boys a great effort thoroughly deserved. The boys made their families all very happy and proud
Well done champions
Game Changer Report:
Twigden's Walkoff Gives Glenelg U17 Victory Over West Torrens
It came down to the wire on Sunday, in Baseball SA U17 Grand Final with Glenelg taking victory on a dramatic walk-off single in the late innings that sealed their victory over West Torrens. The game was tied at two with Glenelg batting in the bottom of the twelfth when Riley Twigden singled on a 2-2 count, scoring one run. The pitching was strong on both sides. Glenelg pitchers struck out six, while West Torrens pitchers sat down 11. Rion Sato earned the victory on the pitcher's mound for Glenelg. He allowed zero hits and two runs over five innings, striking out four. Jasper Clark took the loss for West Torrens. He went four and a third innings, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out five. Jacob Scott started the game for West Torrens. He lasted six and two-thirds innings, allowing one hit and zero runs while striking out six and walking one. Flynn Luders started the game for Glenelg. He surrendered zero runs on four hits over seven innings, striking out two and walking one. Twigden went 2-for-4 at the plate to lead Glenelg in hits. Clark led West Torrens with two hits in three at bats.
After a great couple of finals games we came in fresh and ready to go in the biggest game of what has been an awesome season.
The weather gods didn't want a bar of serving up a perfect day again, as it was overcast with a few spot showers through the morning, but we would have played in a snow storm if need be.
The Hawks from the South were the last team to beat us and seemed they wanted more of the same, some 12 months on. I would flip the game ball to Lachy Eldridge and the top of the first was a little tougher than we had hoped. Giving up back to back singles to start it off, followed by an error saw the bases loaded and no outs. On the back of a ground and a couple of Ks we snuck out of it only giving up 1 run.
Alex Marsh got us started in the home half via a 1 out walk, a double from Craig Handy got in our first run and a ground out saw us in front 2-1 after the first. Gamer breezed through the 2nd and we tacked on another run via a walk to the coach, a single to Corey Williams, a situational ground out from Marshy got us along to 3-1.
South started the 3rd at the top of their lineup and would plate 3 runs to swing the game back their way 4-3. An ugly moment in that dig included a South's slugger unable to evade a tailing inside fasty that would hit him square on the forearm and force him from the field. No-one likes to see things like that happen on the field, our best wishes go out to Paps for a speedy recovery.
Back to the game and early runs for both teams seemed to be the order of the day. The Bays would get a lead off double to Alex Witty to start the 4th, followed by a single to The Big Dawg Stephen Deeble. With runners on 2nd and 3rd and 0 outs, we sniffed this would be the big innings we might have hoped for. But some good team hitting followed but some ordinary base running, saw us only able to plate 1 run, but at least tie it back up at 4-4.
Gamer got through the 5th and 6th with minimal fuss, allowing a guy on base in each inning via an error and a walk, but battled through to post a couple of donuts.
The bottom of the 6th saw Shawy hit one hard, but at shortstop to force a runner out there for our 2nd out. Shawy swiped 2nd and Bender Handy clutched up for us with a double to left and we had that extra run we needed to get a 1 run lead, Bays up 5-4. South's captain Stato Jennings would introduce himself to get out of the innings, but had found that much needed lead.
Tristan Stevens would enter the game in the 7th, to try and record the tough 3 innings save. He worked a perfect 1-2-3 7th with 2 huge plays from Marshy at third v The South hitters would keep pushing and with a couple of guys on in the 8th Stevo induced another groundball and a gentle 4-3 got us a step closer.
The Tiger hitters couldn't find much luck against the South's RP, with a couple of line drives going straight to fielders we would have to settle for protecting a 1 run lead in the last.
Top of the 9th, The Hawks lead off rolled over one to short, Shawy getting us an out closer. With a punch out, we needed 1 out to finally take hold of what we having been chasing for more than a few years. As with most things in baseball and life, nothing comes easy. The south's guys wouldn't go away, and 2 out singles saw the go ahead run on first in the 9th with 2 out. Stevens came up big in this spot, a come backer flipped over to Kloeds at first and it was finally here. Our time.
In the end we did it the hard way, but given what we had been through it was never going to be easy.
The guys put in a lot of hard to work to get here, but its finally our time. It is with huge relief, and joy of some form, that I can finally write these 4 simple words - we are the champions.
