Heading into the final round before the holiday break we traveled to the home of Port Adelaide – and a ground orientation that lacked foresight. We also had the phenomenal opportunity to play at the same location as our Division 2 sisters – a scheduling quirk this year that had taken some atmosphere from our games to date. With the understanding that early runs were worth their weight in gold before the sun set into our eyes making hitting challenging we got to work early.
Sarah McMahon continued her fantastic form in the lead off role, smashing a line drive to left field to set the tone. Jenny Dunn took a fastball to right field for a triple and the bays were on the board. 3 hits, a walk and a HBP later we had a five run advantage going into the bottom of the first. Bianca continued her red hot form from last week – a lightning quick 1,2,3 inning getting the top of their order to hit 3 consecutive ground balls to our strong left side defense with Kenney and Dunny continuing their strong form.
We hit a couple into the wind for no result to start the second but after Prokopec singled with two outs we were able to manufacture a run to keep the momentum our way. Bianca cruised through the second – only one run reached on error but Smith picked up her defense with back to back strikeouts to silence the threat.
Handy singled to lead off the third and came around to score as we manufactured another run before getting through their starters pitch count by innings end.
Port opened their account in the third when they reached on a two out error, ultimately crossing the plate.
A change of pitcher in the fourth saw the Magpies struggle with command, four walks and a single opened the inning, leading to another five spot to put the game firmly in our hands (12 – 1).
Port began the fourth with the opening four hitters reaching but Smith shut down the threat with only a single run scoring.
Another change of pitcher in the fifth and we responded positively against the challenging sun conditions, another four hits, a walk and some good baserunning saw us put up another 5 spot.
Prokopec relieved Smith in the fifth and Port scratched across a single unearned run to end the game. A nice 17-3 result as we head into the holiday in second place. We recommence on January 10th at home vs Woodville. Go Tigers.
