By Sean Talbot
In another big weekend of local baseball, the Upwey Ferntree Gully Tigers picked up where they left off after last weekend, racking up four wins and a draw from seven chances in another terrific showing. Hosting the visiting Berwick Cougars at Kings Park, the Firsts came into the game slightly undermanned, missing key bats in catcher Jordan Elliott and club coach/designated hitter Donavon Hendricks.
Despite surrendering a run in the first inning and a pair in the third inning after a two-run home run, staff ace Jarrod Turner delivered another outstanding start for the Tigers, working around the visitors’ potent line-up and working out of more than one jam on his way to picking up a season-high 11 strikeouts over his five innings of work, the hook from manager Stuart Chinn coming earlier than Tigers fans have come to expect due the Cougars working deep into counts, causing a rapidly growing pitch count.
With Turner’s day done, manager Stuart Chinn handed the ball to teenage fireballer Ryder Wilson in the top of the sixth inning, with the young righty tasked with eating up a few innings whilst attempting to keep Berwick’s 2-1 from growing, delivering so in a big way as he worked innings six, seven and eight while giving up just a pair of earned runs. After Wilson fired a scoreless sixth inning, the Tigers bats exploded in the bottom half of the inning, plating a game breaking five runs on the back of base hits to Pete Schroeders, Ratcliffe and Harvey Chinn before Josh Hendricks, Nick Rice and Staci Rogers all cashed in on their opportunities with runners in scoring position.
After Berwick scoring their fourth run in the top of the seventh, the Tigers were dealt three consecutive two-out walks to load the bases before Flynn Morrison was drilled with a pitch, scoring Chinn and Upwey’s seventh and final run for the game. With both clubs failing to score in the eighth inning, the game headed to the top of the ninth, where closer Rogers navigated around an infield error to shut the door on the visitors, picking up the save and sealing the three-run win.
Rice was the pick of the hitters for the day, adding two RBI’s and a stolen base to his base hit, while Turner, Wilson and Rogers combined to surrender four runs on eight hits, two walks while adding 16 strikeouts between them.
The Tigers will be heading down the highway next weekend as they face Werribee in Werribee on Saturday in what promises to be a very competitive game.
Playing in the curtain-raiser, the Seconds found themselves in an unfamiliar position and trailed for the majority of the game, with Berwick plating one in the third and three in the fourth to momentarily hold a 4-0 lead after taking starter Daniel Smith to the sword, capitalising on four walks and a HBP from the Tigers lefty in what turned out to be a gritty start before Pat Gawith took the ball in relief, slamming the door with a trio of scoreless innings.
The Tigers bats came alive in the bottom of the fourth inning, as hits to a returning Randy Senn, Michael Oxworth, Ash Geary-Smith, Kyle Hubbard and some heads-up base running allowed them to score three runs and send the game to the fifth trailing 4-3. Looking to take the lead late in the game, the Tigers plated three more runs in the bottom of the sixth after hits to Oxworth, Hubbard and grizzled veteran Mark Jones, to go along with more aggressive baserunning as some wayward Cougars pitching allowed Upwey’s baserunners to continually be in scoring position as they claimed the lead at the death and made it count.
Oxworth (two hits, one walk, one stolen base), Geary-Smith (two hits, one RBI, one stolen base) and Hubbard (one hit and two RBI) led the Tigers offensively, while Smith and Gawith combined to surrender six hits, five walks and two HBP’s over their seven combined innings.
The win sees the Tigers record improve to 4-0 and retain top spot on the ladder as they look ahead to next weekend’s game on the road against the 12th placed Giants in Werribee.
Hosting arch-rival Waverley, the Thirds survived a four-run first inning from the visitors, scoring three apiece in the first and fourth innings before holding sway to run out eventual winners 6-5 in a hotly contested game between two of the league’s best offenses.
With the Wildcats jumping starting pitcher Tyler Kilby from the off, the Tigers went to work putting runs on the board, using a combination of base hits to Will Yon, Steve Williams and Tarquin Booth, a walk to Russell Jeffery and aggressive base running to score their first runs of the game, cutting Waverley’s lead down to one and sending the game to the second with a 4-3 scoreline and hopes of a lot more runs to come.
Waverley doubled their lead in the third inning as two hits, a pair of stolen bases and an infield error plated their fifth run before Kilby recorded a strikeout to end the inning. The Tigers took the lead in the bottom of the fourth with their second three-run inning, as base hits to Mitchell Thorne, Yon and a walk to Steve Johnson allowed Williams’ double to have maximum effect and give the hosts their first lead of the game, a lead they would not give back the remainder of the game.
Williams (two hits, four RBI) was the best of the Upwey hitters on the day, ably supported by the rest of the lineup. The win sees the team’s record improve to 4-0 as they remain in first place on the ladder, looking ahead to next weekend as they host sixth place Mornington.
Coming into the game knowing they would need to be at their best to take the points against the visiting Wildcats, the Fourths picked up runs in the first, second and third inning as they poured it on early and often, with their three run third inning proving to be more than enough to put the game out of reach and secure the points.
Taking the start for his team, the evergreen veteran Dom McGrath showed why he is amongst the best arms amongst his contemporaries, throwing a complete game gem against his former team to lead the home side to a comfortable win. Taking advantage of some wayward Waverley pitching (seven walks along with six stolen bases), the Tigers in turn received contributions up and down their lineup to make their chances count and keep the pressure on the visitors.
The win moves the Tigers record to 3-1 and pushes them into third place on the ladder, with eyes set firmly on Mornington next weekend in what will be viewed as a must-win game in order to keep at the heels of ladder leaders Blackburn and Melbourne.
Travelling to Chelsea, the Fifths and Sixths were unfortunately dealt a pair of solid defeats, being bested 18-1 and 10-2 respectively by the host Dolphins. While results of this nature are commonplace at this level, Fifths coach Travis Jenkins was pleased to point out his squad’s continued improvement and ability to collect three hits against some veteran Chelsea arms, with Hayley Mather helping her side to avoid a shutout and coming round to score after leading off the fifth inning with a single in what are encouraging signs for the team.
Finding themselves back on the road to Pakenham to take on the Pumas for the second consecutive week, the Tigress’ were again able to score at will but were unfortunately unable to close the door on their hosts, with Pakenham Black scoring the maximum of seven in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie the game and ensure both teams would share the points on the day.
With base hits proving hard to come by for both teams (just 11 combined for both teams against 22 runs), the Tigress’ did everything they could on the basepaths to keep the runs crossing home plate, posting an incredible TWENTY-ONE stolen bases to push their team total to an otherworldly 56 after just four games for the season.
As is typical for the Upwey outfit, they received contributions from every player in the line-up, with Billie McCulloch (two walks, four stolen bases), Zienna McCulloch (one hit, two RBI, three stolen bases) and Victoria Chinn (one hit, three RBI, two stolen bases) the pick of the hitters, whilst Chelsea Mosbey and Jessica McDonald sharing pitching duties and doing a terrific job of keeping the ball on the ground.
The result sees the Tigress’ record sit at 3-0-1, good enough for second place behind St. Kilda (2-0) as they find themselves again on the road, this time to Napier Park to take on Waverley in what should be a terrific game.
