Hawks downed by Scorchers
The Illawarra Hawks have slumped to an 89-64 loss at the hands of the Springwood Scorchers on Saturday night at the Blaxland High School Basketball Stadium, in round five of the NSW State League Basketball competition.
The Hawks trailed 17-16 and 33-30 after the first two breaks but edge two points clear (49-47) at the end of the third term, giving hopes to their fans of an away victory.
 
PHOTOS: Action from Saturday night's game between the Hawks and Scorchers (Clayton Childs – no 7) - photos courtesy of Marion McNeill (www.photoexcellence.com.au)
That however would be an unfulfilled ambition, with the Scorchers putting in an astonishing run of scoring during the fourth quarter. The Scorchers literally re-wrote the record books at the Blaxland Stadium, with one of the most withering final quarters of basketball ever seen in the venue. The Scorchers were unstoppable in the term, tallying up an astonishing 42-15 run to surge to a 25-point victory.
Springwood Scorchers 89 (Adrian Qumivutia 28 points, Nick Ferrari 17, Adam Marjoram 13) defeated Illawarra Hawks 64 (Brett Bonham 13 points, Rohan Epe 13, Cameron Brown 13, Mark Turnbull 10)
Illawarra’s Julia Fellows in Australian women’s baseball team
Eighteen year old Illawarra baseball player Julia Fellows has been selected into the Australian Women’s Baseball team to play at the III International Baseball Federation (IBAF) Women’s World Cup to be played at Matsuyama, Japan from August 24th to 29th 2008.
This will be Julia’s second appearance in the National team following her selection to play at the Women’s World Cup in 2006. Julia was selected following her performances at the 2008 Australian Women’s Baseball Championships held in Wollongong over the recent Easter period.
A member of the Country New South Wales team that finished fourth at the Championships, Julia was prominent in the tournament statistics. Playing mostly in the catchers’ role she compiled a very creditable .407 batting average with an outstanding 72.5% on base percentage (.725 OBP).
A product of the Illawarra Junior Baseball League who passed her HSC at Illawarra Sports High School in 2007, Julia has been playing representative baseball for several years.
Julia and twin sister Romi were recently instrumental in the Greenway club winning the 2007-8 Sydney Women’s League first grade premiership. Julia caught all of the Grand Final game while Romi pitched for five innings.
The honour of representing one’s nation in a minority sport carries a significant cost to both players and their families. In the coming months there will be some fundraising activities to assist Julia raise approximately $3,000 needed for the tour.
Eagles soar over Pirates in baseball
Defending premier Berkeley Eagles got their season off to a positive start with a 9-2 result over Bulli Pirates at Thomas Dalton Park, Fairy Meadow. Eagles outhit Pirates 11-6, outfielder Chad Blanch having a remarkable game in offence. Blanch, who was selected in the New South Wales Combined High Schools team during the week, batted 3 from 5 with an outstanding five RBI's (runs batted in).
Wests Cardinals, playing their second consecutive home game at Cringila Park, recorded their second win with an 8-3 score over Kiama Braves. Cardinals outhit Braves 9-6, Paul Trembearth featuring with 3 from 3 and 4 RBI's.
Bulli Pirates could not continue on from where they finished off in their tight one run loss to Cardinals last week and found themselves 5-0 in arrears after Eagles batted in the top of the third inning. Blanch batted in one run in each of the first and third innings and he went on to convert two more runs in the fourth giving Eagles a 7-1 lead. Pirates scored a second run on Luke Rich’s hit in the fifth but a further two runs by Eagles in the sixth, one batted in by Blanch capped off an impressive outing by the premiers.
Eagles starting pitcher Josh Doyle allowed two earned run on four hits in five innings while reliever Hayden Beard, playing his return game with Eagles after two seasons in the New York Mets organization, was very effective allowing one hit and no earned runs in two innings.
Brendan Lower pitched six innings for ten hits and seven runs for Pirates while Joe Duldig closed the last two innings for one hit and no earned runs. In addition to Blanch’s effort, Sam Thornton batted 3 from 4 for Eagles and Mark Pearson batted 2 from 4 for Pirates.
Cardinals reacted to Braves scoring two runs in the third inning by piling on five of their own runs in the bottom of the inning. Paul Trembearth and Chase Richardson batted in two runs each in the inning. The 5-2 score prevailed until the seventh where Paul Trembearth batted in a further two runs on his third hit of the game.
Richardson batted 2 from 3 and Jeff Trembearth batted 2 from 4 for Cardinals while Stuart Masters and Shaun Crowther batted 2 from 4 each for Braves. Jamie Simon kept the Braves hitters in check pitching seven innings and allowing no earned runs on four hits for Cardinals while Braves middle reliever Matt Sneddon troubled the Cardinals hitters being hitless and conceding no earned runs in three innings.
Next week’s round three fixtures are a repeat of this week but at reversed home grounds. Berkeley Eagles play Bulli Pirates at Eagles Field, Fred Finch Park, Berkeley and Kiama Braves host Wests Cardinals at Gainsborough Reserve, Kiama Downs. Dapto Chiefs have the bye but play lower grade games against Shoalhaven Mariners at No. 2 Field, Fred Finch Park, Berkeley. Report from Frank Booth
Hurley snares gold at world swim champs
Although it has generally slipped under the radar in other media, Wollongong’s Robert Hurley has won a gold medal at the World Short Course Championships in Manchester (25 metre pool).
Hurley swam in a heat of the Aussie mens's 4 X 200m relay. He was selected as the "substitute" swimmer so that one of our 200m swimmers could have a rest on that morning. He said he was stoked to be given that opportunity and swam very well. In the final the relay team won, albeit narrowly. As a result, Robert will also be given a gold medal for his part in the team as is the usual procedure.
Usually there are 2 substitute swimmers for relay heats but on this occasion the Australian selectors elected to use just the one. Somewhat surprisingly they chose Hurley ahead of another available swimmer who is in the 2008 Olympic team for our 200m relay!
Hurley finished 8th in the 100m backstroke Final a Personal Best in 51.19 secs with just 1 second separating the entire field. All 8 Finalists were ranked in the world's top 10 before the event (quite unusual) and most improved their times! Hurley’s time would have seen him finish 2nd just one-tenth behind the winner at the last World Championships!! He was the youngest competitor in the Final.
Illawarra junior cricketers in emerging Blues
Five local junior cricketers have made the NSW Emerging Blues High Performance Squads for the up and coming season. They are under 13 players: Kyle Brockley, Ben Chapman, Tyler Edwards and Thomas O’Brien. Rhys Noronha was selected in the under 14s squad. SportsLive congratulates all players.
Wolves 18s and 16s have great wins
In soccer’s Premier Youth League the Wollongong Wolves picked up two wins and two draws from 5 games last weekend against the West Sydney Berries at Lidcombe Oval. The Wolves under 18s continued their climb up the ladder to 6th spot with an 8 nil thrashing of West Sydney Berries last weekend. The 16s also had a great win knocking over the Berries by 4 nil. They now sit in 9th position on the 12 team table.
In the 15s the 11th placed Berries held the undefeated Wolves to a surprising 1 all draw. The Wolves are in 4th spot but have played one game less than all three teams above them. In another unexpected result the bottom of the ladder 14s also had a one all draw against the fifth placed Berries. The 13s were not able to match the Berries and went down 2 nil.
Illawarra Junior and Senior Cricket Presentation Night Photos
For all the award winners and photos from the Presentation Night for the Illawarra Junior Cricket for Season 2007-08 go to www.wollongong.sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=2837
For all the award winners and photos (extra photos now on site) from the Illawarra Senior Cricket Presentation for 2007-08 season go to www.wollongong.sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=2838
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