It all came down to this. Last round Gawler at home we win Golden Grove and or Woodville loose we make the finals.
With no A grade this week we were afforded the luxury of having both Oz and Flynn available to do throwing duties.
Oz got the Brett ball to start proceedings and looked sharp after his extended break showing good signs the eye operation worked
Unfortunately for us the Gawler hurler was also looking sharp easily going through our line-up over the first two frames
We did have our chance to score in the third with Brian collecting a base hit to left and Mathews laying down a perfect sac bunt but we just could not get him home.
Luckily for us Oz stayed sharp despite a few walks here and there he easily worked his way through 5 striking out 8 and not giving up a hit. great to see him in form coming into finals
We finally had our chance in the fourth a lead of walk to Aled set the scene for Mags to hit a gap shot to the fence in left scoring Aled from first and ending up on third himself. That is where he would stay as what is becoming a worrying habit we just cannot get runners home with none or one out.
Flynn came on to relive Oz and took off from where he left dismantling the Gawler batters with ease.
Still we were in a 1 – 0 nil ball game going into the 8 inning making the coaching staff a little anxious. Fortunately a pitching change would put the game back onto our terms. Mags lead off the 8 with a leadoff double Rion collecting a lucky hit behind the pitcher a walk to Hayden had base loaded allowing Brian to collect his 4 hit of the game driven in two with a double to the fence. Jakiob Mathews then drove in Hayden with a single to left Mouse collecting a single to right had the young studs 6 – 0 up Aled kept us hitting with a triple to right Sonny then chipped in with a hit and Mags who started the inning would dually finish it with another double. Umpire calling time and game due to time Bays win 9 – 0 and go to the business end of the season.
Pleasing thing was our pitching and defence Oz and Flynn combined to throw a one hit ball game showing they are going to be handy during this long finals campaign. Mouse at short stop was outstanding making difficult plays look easy. On the hitting front despite a brain fade at second Brian went 4 for 4 Mags also collecting 3 hits and special shout out to Jaikob Mathews who laid down to sac bunts for us and reaped the rewards for his team attitude by collecting an rbi single late.
Onwards and upwards lads
Final regular season match and we faced a determined Gawler outfit. A real low scoring battle until late that is a nice little wake up call prior to finals beginning next week.
We welcomed back Will Burke with Div 1 having a bye the usual reinforcements were able to cover div 2 and we got back our innings leader on the season. Will kept them scoreless through two innings but left in the third with a couple of runners one who ultimately scored.
We scored four in the first inning and three in the fifth to take a 7-2 win. Another opportunity to get some innings into some insurance arms for finals now that we move from 2 hour games to 9 inning affairs.
Luke Thompson had a strong day both at the plate and defensively. We weren’t as sharp as we’d like but we ultimately got the job done and got in some nice work. Fresh season starts now lads – time to get excited.
