Licking our wounds after the weekends loss to Kensington we travelled down to West Lakes for the first twilight game of the season against top of the ladder Rams.
The pill was flipped to Anthony Auletta who after a little bit of a shaky start settled into a groove and gave us an excellent start. He was assisted by some top class out fielding with Joe Gluyas throwing the Rams first runner out at the plate and Sonny Beaumont running up against the fence to take a great catch at centre.
Whilst Tony was working his way through the innings, our offence chipped away and got us to a 4-0 lead as the light started to fade. Best with the bat being Elliott Ross, Tyson Arnold and Sonny Beaumont, whose continued on his good form from Sunday.
In an effort to keep the fans on their seats, we then fell apart a bit in the field and a combination of errors and poor decision making allowed the Rams back in the game and the score tightened to 4-3 with an innings to play.
Tim Day came into relieve Tony and was efficient, snuffing out the threat and given the boys a much needed W.
Tough assignment up the hill against the in form Cardinals. Jayden was back on the bump for his first Div 1 start since injury in Round 2.
Jayden got of a good start, keeping Kensies quiet through first two innings. Second time through the line-up and the flood gates opened with the cards putting up a 6 spot.
That was to be the theme of the day with Aussie McClure and Flynn Luders also being unable to quell the big bats of the opposition.
For us best with the bat was Sonny Beaumont and Mason Clavell in a return to some form.
On the back of a good win by our Div 3 lads we started with a bang in the top of the first putting up a 4 spot against their starter.
Connor Hill gave us a solid outing on the bump as we held the Cards to a bunch of zeros. A change of pitcher after the first for them also kept out bats in check and we were unable to give Hilly any further run support.
Unfortunately a couple of untimely errors in the 4th followed by a homer gave the Cards a 3 run innings, and some momentum.
Connor exited the game and we were unable to either arrest the slide or tack onto our score ending up with a disappointing 7-4 loss in a game where we had plenty of opportunities.
Best of luck to young gun Archie Lovelock who will now travel to Geelong with the SA Under 16 team.
Friday it was 42, Sunday morning met us with a light drizzle as we pulled into the carpark at Hallett Road. We had 9 bodies on deck and started off the new year with a bang, scoring 2 in the first.
With some regular pitching options off the table Tom Huttunen put his hand up to take the pill. He retired the first 2 in order and was looking good early. But struggled with location in the conditions a little and drove his pitch count up pretty quickly over the first couple of innings.
We had great at bats throughout the entire game against Kensies crafty veteran arms. Kym Bartlett had a day out going 3 for with a homer and drove in 4 runs. Alex Witty collected 3 hits as well in the lead-off spot, setting the table for us regularly.
The coach made his season debut on the hill in relief. Although the tying run came to the plate in the last with 2 outs, a fly ball to Kai Reid in left, a nice catch from the youngster and a win was in the books. A great reward for the guys who have stuck with it in what has been a pretty difficult season.
With a few regulars assuming we wouldn’t return to games a few days into the new year and having planned time away with the family over the Christmas-New Year period, I pulled together the bare 9 and we headed out to OG road to face the always difficult Sox.
Kym Bartlett took the pill for us and the home team posted a run in the first two innings to take a 2-0 lead early. Kymbo found his groove after this and got through 6.2 allowing 3 runs.
Lenny Eldridge got our first knock in the 3rd inning as the Sox hurler was getting us out pretty well the first time through. Kloeds knocked in a run to put us in front a couple innings later. Quals with a big double to score a pair. In the end we just fielded the ball a little better, a couple of misplayed fly balls by the hometown outfield made it that bit tougher on their SP.
A pretty decent day out all things considered, and a well-earned W to take back home.
Division 5 - Glenelg 10 def Southern Districts 0
With various players being shuffled around like Daniel Negreanu’s finest cards due to holidays, injury or Barnesy related issues, it was a different look for the Snakes Alives as they returned to the diamond from a belly full of festive cheer after a week off.
The Slice got the call to the Al Gores while Mister NG, AKA Vietnamese Jesus, took on piffing duties for the Snakes at FalconNotHawk Park against Souths. The first game back also saw the return of the G-Spot after his national speaking tour on climate change. Dan The Man got the call-up after plying his trade in the “Cement Mixers” since returning from his weapons trading foray into the Middle East.
The good guys wielded the stick first but came up empty, while Vietnamese Jesus showed off his ninja skills by snaffling two comebackers to get through the first comfortably, assisted by a nice first up play by the returning G-spot.
Van Wilder Party Liaison knocked the first hit for the good guys in inning two then advanced on a passed ball. Vietnamese Jesus then wielded his can from the left, forcing a tunnel ball error that put the Snakes Alives on the board 1-0.
After giving up a leadoff double in the second, NG called time, scoffed down a Banh Mi with extra chilli then produced three handy groundballs to maintain the 1-0 lead after two.
Inning three was a big one for the good guys as within 18 pitches the following happened:
The result: No outs, seven runs, 8-0 lead.
NG continued to do it comfortably on the hill while the Tiggas added a couple more runs to stretch the lead to 10-0. The Cave Darter finished proceedings with a 1-2-3 6th as Middle East Melia protected the hot corner with Vietnamese Jesus making his way down Brighton road to enjoy some quality Aussie rock.
A solid first-up result after the break as we prepare to head back to the same venue to face a fired up HawksNotFalcons next week.
With a week off upcoming due to the impending arrival of the fat bearded guy (no, not Kyle Sandilands, the OTHER fat bearded guy), the Snakes Alives came up against the Eagles for the third time this season. Hazy breezy conditions were on tap as legendary umpire InternetThatFlies called “play ball”. The Slim Pear took the hill and gave up a couple of hits, probably as he was distracted by Dave “Magnum P.I” Clavell’s magnificent Hawaiian shirt that rolled across the Anderson Avenue car park and into the friendly confines of Peter Dixon’s Dugout. Normal service was restored as the Pear took care of the dangerous 4/5 Eagle hitters with some help from Sticky V-Dubby Buddy and the Unstoppable Pecs Machine to keep the visitors scoreless.
The good guys used a walk to the Fenomenon, a single to the Big Kraj and a two-out double to KB81 to take a 2-0 early lead. The Eags scored in the second but the Snakes Alives replied in kind with a Dubstar walk and a Fendog single taking this one to 3-1 after two.
The visitors threatened with two on and none out in the third, but the Williams' bon chrétien Pear delivered a wicked 3-2 hook to strike out Spiderman for the biggest out of the game. The crusty Burrito then rolled an unassisted tag ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play to keep the score at 3-1. Bottom three saw the WBC Pear reach on error before old Pink Fingers walked. With two out and two on, Crusty Borrito proclaimed…
“I'm takin' it back to the old school
'Cause I'm an old fool who's so cool
If you want to get down, I'ma show you the way
Whoomp, there it is! Lemme hear ya say”
before delivering a two run double that had HSR colouring in a couple of circles with deft skills, keeping every bit of the Columbia’s between the dark lines. 5-1 Tiges.
The Eagles bounced straight back with a three spot in the fourth thanks to some less than stellar “D” from the good guys, 5-4 the score. Needing a bit of breathing space, the great man himself went to work, shouting…
“DC's in the house, jump, jump, rejoice
Says there's a party over here, a party over there
Wave your hands in the air, shake your derriere
These three words mean you're gettin' busy,
Whoomp, there it is! Hit me!”before smashing a double and eventually scoring on a Pink Finger Single.
The Unstoppable Pecs machine relieved WBC Pear and comfortably notched the save to preserve a hard fought 6-4 victory for the Snakes.
The boys retired to Dixon’s Dugout to have a few sherbets after a solid first half, with M.C. Steak leading the way on the turntable with the crowd behind his smooth voice as he sang…
“Point blank - gin and juice I drink And then invent as I puff with WTG on dank Rock the mic, uh oh, I crave skin Rip *shit*, find a honey dip to dip it in Slam dunk it, stick it, flip it and ride That B-double-O-T-Y, oh my Ooh, that's it, come on, come on Whoomp, there it is! I'm done.”
And so am I. Wishing everyone in the GBC family a safe and sensational festive season with your loved ones, looking forward to seeing all of your beautiful faces again in 2020! #23
In a game where we never really got going we were beaten by the Magpies in a fairly short full length encounter
Wayne "The Loop" Hughes and Glen "Grindhouse" Pycock were the pick of our batters with 5 hits between them. Connor "Howard" Major the best of the rest with a good double (and also made quite a few catches in the outfield). Sam "Phascolarctos cinereus" Dixon tried to pitch well, but was outsmarted too often by the Port batters. We will hopefully play better in new year.
On the 18th January there will be a quiz night at Glenelg Baseball Club at about 6:30. Our Div 6 team will probably win as we are the brightest team (unless the Port div 6 batters gather a team together). It should be an OK night to test your knowledge and hang out with friends. Get your table now through facebook or your local Gunslinger representative. Here is a few questions to answer to get yourself in form.
