With a full squad back on deck we faced the Cardinals at home. Handing the ball to B Smith we made some slight adjustments to the defence as we prepare for the temporary absence of Captain Kenney.
Bianca worked through the first inning unscathed and we quickly put up a three spot in the first, a few adjustments necessary as we popped a few up in inning 1. Another scoreless inning in the second and we came back with the necessary adjustment in the second inning, driving the ball to all fields for our first five spot of the day.
Smith completed her third scoreless inning of the day as our defence showed last weeks output was the temporary bump we expected it to be, with a couple of double plays on the day and some fine outfield work as well. In the bottom of the third we again scored five as injuries have depleted Kensington’s line up who battled hard in challenging conditions.
We turned the ball over to Prokopec who shut down the Cardinals in the fourth. With time remaining but Kensington out of pitching the mercy rule was called and we didn’t hit in the fourth. A nice 13-0 win to get back in the winner’s circle We have the league bye week now before we match up with the ladder leaders Sturt at Home on January 31st.
After a few weeks break over the Christmas & New Year period we returned Friday night to face a very good Woodville side. Down a couple of regulars we shuffled the line up a little and got to work. In a consistent tone for the night we were a little off our regular standard defensively and leaked unearned runs consistently throughout the game.
Never letting these matters break us however it was extremely pleasing that we maintained quality at bats on the offensive side all night, making both Woodville pitchers work hard and keeping runners on base and threatening all night.
After giving up our first five run inning all season we had a simple equation in the bottom of the last, score 4 to tie it, 5 to win. We scored four and with the bases loaded and two outs Adele hit a hard ground ball that was ultimately secured by first base who just beat Adele husting down the line. A real pleasing competitive effort when we weren’t at our best ability wise which will serve us well as we push towards a potential finals berth. Draws leave a weird taste in your mouth, final score 11-11; all are greatly looking forward to this Friday’s match up against Kensington as we look to right the ship.