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U18 B - MATCH REPORTS.

Round 9 - Berwick B 3 lost to Blackburn 18.

The last time we played we were competitive and we were again today. Brad started for us on started throwing strikes as he usually does. Blackburn scored one run in the first and we counter attacked with Rubin leadoff with a single that turned into triple with his aggressive base running. Brad got on base & Dave continued his great season by knocking in the RbI. Both sides defence were good in the early going a few missed opportunities cost us chances to get out of the innings with runs. Jake played a good defensive game at left field making a good fly & keeping the ball in front & hitting the cut off. Jade relieved brad and started a bit shaky but was unlucky to give up runs in the inning. Rubin made one of the best running over the shoulder catches I have seen (aka Tim moon). Dave moped up the last innings and we scored another 2 runs for a 18-3 result. A majority of runs they scored were after a error that would but that is our challenge. Play consistent baseball for 2 hour. Signs are there and I know the team has the ability to make it happen.

Round 8 - Berwick B 8 lost to Williamstown / Footscray12.

Our first match up against a combo side and as usually we came out swinging. Hits to brad, cam & Dave put us on the scoreboard early. We have had the ability to get a good start every week. Dave started and after a shaky start throw 3 good innings but the top of the willyscays’s order was very strong and with some assistance from ourselves they piled on 12 run.

To the teams credit, they bounced back. Timely hitting & good base running allowed us to get back runs to make the final scores 12-8. Again a lot of positives especially from Jade. I asked Jade to pitch a innings to stop the follow of the opposition hitting and she did just that. With a true relieves approach she took it to the hitters and throw a scoreless innings. We have now are developing our 6^th pitcher in the team. Special mention to Jake who got his first hit of the season today.

Round 7 - Berwick B Vs. Sandringham - Wash-out.

Wash out due to unplayable ground conditions. Thank you to the parents for staying and letting the team take some extra work (in the only dry spot on the field down the left field line).

Round 6 - Berwick B 2 lost to Sunshine 12.

A nice early morning trip to Sunshine is always refreshing and straight from the top the bats were alive. We were unlucky to score in the first as the First 5 hitter hit the ball hard but we couldn’t get a run across the plate. Still another positive start and Turtle again started well and both teams were scoreless after one. We were blanked in the second but Jade got here first hit with a nice single to left centre. Unfortunately we switch off at this point and Sunshine managed to pile on the runs and our defence just didn’t support Turtle work on the mound.

To the teams credit, they bounced back. Cam Gibbens came on and throw to strong innings while picking up a hit and scoring our second run. His show good poise on the mound and made good adjustments to keep the Sunshine bats quite over the next two innings. Still keeping up with our approach of developing players into positions, Jade moved to first (although she wanted nothing of it initially) and show a great glove there making some good plays. Ruben become our third pitcher of the day and throw a great inning of work with Sunshine scoring only a run.

Time became our enemy. We rallied as a team an scored 7 runs in the 6^th with Scotty driving in 2 with a great shot to centre. Take away a bad inning and the result becomes very different. The result may have been a loss 12-2 (was 12-9 but reverted back) but there again were many positives to take into next week.

Round 5 - Berwick B 3 lost to Blackburn 12.

For the fourth game in a row our team was ready to go and we scored 2 runs in the top 1^st innings thanks to a great lead off by Rubin, and timely hitting by Brad and Dave to knock in the first runs. Dave then back this up with a great start keeping Blackburn Scoreless in the first. Some good defence by both sides kept things at bay through the first innings. Dave picked up another hit and scored our 3^rd run of the game. A double play in the second got us out of the inning but unfortunately things got tough from there.

Our goals is to continue developing more pitchers and we had Scott, Cam and BJ all step up to the rubber. Scotty got two quick outs but lost a bit of control from there. Cam got us out of the innings and started then next well but just lost his command also. We then brought in Ben 10 (wearing my uniform number 10) who was a bit erratic initially but picked up a strike out and a great field play by Jade at third got us out of the inning. There are good signs there but we need to keep developing out pitchers with bullpens seasons and focus on throwing strikes. In the end the result was 12-3 but we walked 7 runs across the plate. All our runs were a result of our team manufacturing the runs which is very pleasing.

We moved a few more people around today with Chris playing first, Ruben second and Brad behind the plate (who did a great job with all the different pitchers throwing during the game). We now move onto the regular season. We have faced some good opposition and had a chance to see where pour team can develop. I see a lot of positives in this playing group who will only get stronger and stronger.

Wash out. A thank you to Debbie for bring Brad and Ruben down from Sales on a wet day but al least they had a afternoon game.

Round 3 - Berwick B 2 lost to Doncaster A 21.

Doncaster A are one of the favourites to take out the Under 18 major league with 4 Australian and 7 Victorian representatives. This again provide us with the opportunity to play against some strong opposition to test ourselves. For the third week in a row, we scored straight away in the first innings with some good basic baseball. Get them on, get them over and get them in. Some good heads up base running by Cam Gibbens on a pickoff play put a runner in scoring position and the execution of a good hit and run by Brad and Turtle allow us to get ahead.

Our challenge for the days was going keep the bat of Doncaster quiet so we needed to be defensive at the top of our game. Although we were able to make the plays in the field our execution allowed them to put runners on base which could have been outs. Turtle again throw a strong 3 innings and was unlucky to not get out of innings without runs being scored. In the 5 innings we actually had the opportunity to get out of each inning with only 1 run being scored. That’s the game of baseball, taking chances and grabbing opportunities. We made several defensive moves throwing Scotty, Brad and Cam. A good defensive plays made by Jade on a hard hit ball to brad at shorts stop which hit his glove and went toward second where jade was able to get the ball to make the force out as she was moving in that direct to make the double play. Great heads up baseball.

The final result was 21-2 however the positives were in the team work and hustle our teams showed all day.

Round 2 - Berwick 6 2 lost to Mulgrave 7.

This game was going to be a good matchup for both teams and again the team was ready to go from the start. Our new warm up used in seniors really gets the team awake as again we scored in the first innings with some timely hitting and aggressive base running. Brad started this week and again was very consistent on the mound. He got ahead of hitters and was able to use the field including a great double play by our new player Jake Dixon who made a great catch in right field then doubled the runner off the bag at first.

There were a number of good field plays made by both teams keeping things close through the game but our aggressive hitting approach lead us to scores another 5 runs over the next 5 innings . Each player contributed by advance runners and knocking in runs with Scott, Turtle and BJ coming up with some good hitting to score runs. Turtle throw another 3 good inning keeping the game close but again in baseball, you never know. Mulgrave managed to claw their way back to take the game 7 – 6. It was one that got away but we had made many defensive changes to again test our players in new situations an positions. A great team effort and contributions from everyone.

Round 1 - Berwick B 2 lost to Waverley A 12.

A new season of Berwick baseball and it was great to see a keen group of players ready to take on the competition. The initial round were always challenging but it is great opportunity to challenge yourself against some of the strongest side in the state. Our team stated well against to The Waverley A side with Dave Mulhall throwing 3 strong innings and picking up a couple of key hits. We scored first in the game which is pleasing as the team was really ready to play from the word go. Chris Denny had a good game behind the plate really working our pitcher well.

The boys from Sale, Brad and Ruben both did well during the game. Brad throwing 2 quality innings by just throwing strikes and letting the field do the work. Ruben tried to make one of the toughest plays of the day trying to track down a foul ball and going over the left field fence in that effort. The result was 12-2 Waverley in the end but we had taken it up to them for 1 hour & ½ but just ran out of gas at the end. Very please things to work with.