Baseball like life is full of people, some take more than they give or have at best a passing impact on others; but a small percentage of people make everything and everyone around them better. We lost a great friend, umpire and the rarest of all a great person in the last week – Peter “Dodo” Ditrich. A friend and supporter of all baseball – and as dedicated supporter of the women’s competition in South Australia from its inception as you will find anywhere. His passing leaves a hole that may never be filled. 2020 can get in the bin. Much love to his family, and to everyone affected by the loss of this great man.
After the pregame remembrance of Dodo our club took a moment to celebrate our evolving history and contribution to Women’s baseball. Being the first club to embrace women’s baseball in this competition and to maintain the enthusiasm and commitment as we reached and celebrated 100 games played in GBC colours is a moment of great pride to our club. Congratulations to all of our women’s playing members who have represented us over the past four years and welcome to our new and future tigers.
After Round 1s postponement the season finally commenced facing a Woodville club that we matched up against in last years finals series in what was easily the best all round and highest quality match our club had participated in over our history. That they then picked up one of our best utility players in recent years (Sarah McMahon) in the offseason just adds to the competition between our two clubs.
Off the back of our preseason work it looked like we were just a little ahead of our opponents in terms of preparation and picked up a solid victory 14-4. Carly Moore put on a defensive clinic behind the dish all night for Woodville to help contain our baserunners.
Offensively we set the table nicely getting on base at a .633 clip allowing the middle of our order to cash in with 8 RBIs to keep the scoreboard pressure up. Defensively we benefited from a strong start from B Smith who went three innings and was unlucky in giving up 4 runs. Prokopec finished off the game with a 1,2,3 inning in relief. Izzy Lilburn made her debut behind the dish and contributed with 2 walks and a HBP to open her account at the GBC.
Great start to the year – looking sharp as the first team to wear our new away tops. Thank you to everyone who came out to support the team and celebrate the first 100 games of women’s baseball at the GBC.
Go Tigers.
