Cardinals eye premiership

Wests Cardinals moved a step closer to capturing the 2008 Illawarra Baseball League premiership when they defeated Bulli Pirates in Saturday’s round 17 match at Cringila Park. With three rounds of the regular season remaining the Red Birds have a bye next round and finish off with games against Braves and Chiefs in the last two rounds.
Blake Handley made a big impact on the win pitching seven quality innings and conceding one earned run on eight hits. He also featured offensively registering a game best 3 from3 with 3 RBI’s. Josh Dean backed up the offence with 3 from 4 and batting in the two runs scored in the first inning. Cardinals made sure of an early finish when they scored four runs in the seventh creating a ten run margin. In the final inning both Jeff Trembearth and Trent D’Antonio knocked in two runs with their doubles.
Dapto Chiefs solidified third position on the table with a 7-4 win over Kiama Braves at Gainsborough Reserve, Kiama Downs. Starting pitcher Aaron Wirth gave up three hits in four shutout innings and registered 3 from 3 with the bat. Chiefs outhit Braves 12-7, Evan Hayes heading Braves’ hitting with 3 from 4.

First Grade Table – Cardinals 82%, Eagles 73%, Chiefs 39%, Pirates 35%, Braves 15%.

Second Grade:  Pirates 9 Cardinals 1;  Braves 6 Chiefs 6;  Mariners 9 Eagles 6

Third Grade:  Pirates 18 Cardinals 5;  Warriors 15 Braves 5;  Eagles 9 Mariners 9

Minor League:  Panthers (5) 27 Panthers (4) 7; Cardinals 14 Warriors 8; Braves Pirates N/R

In round 18 Major League fixtures this Saturday Dapto Chiefs face Berkeley Eagles at Hector Harvey Reserve, Dapto and Kiama Braves play Bulli Pirates at Gainsborough Reserve, Kiama Downs. Cardinals have a bye in firsts but play Shoalhaven Mariners in lower grade games at Cringila Community Park. First grade games commence at 2.15pm.

Junior to compete at world tournament

Fifteen years old Illawarra Junior Baseball League player Stephen Smith departs for the World Boys' Baseball Tournament being played in California, USA, from August 6. Stephen, a product of the Wests Cardinals Club, will travel to Oakland, Alameda County for the week long tournament. As a member of the New South Wales team representing Australia, he will play against teams representing Brazil, Chinese Taipei, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico and additional teams from the United States of America.

This will be Stephen’s second time playing as a junior in the USA having represented New South Wales at the Babe Ruth Series in Hamilton, New Jersey in 2006.

The World Boys Baseball Tournament is an annual invitational event open to under seventeens and is held in a different country each year. Historically the tournament has provided strong competition and all players benefit from the high level of play. The tour provides a unique development opportunity whilst players benefit from the cultural experience.
Stephen is enrolled in the baseball targeted sports program at Illawarra Sports High. He has also been a Country NSW representative for the last 3 years. His has played with the Wests Cardinals for eight years, and is also in his second year of seniors. Story from Frank Booth.

Phoenix rises against Sydney

In last Saturday night’s A-League clash with Wellington Phoenix at WIN Stadium in Wollongong, Sydney FC needed to win well to have any chance of making the pre-season final. In a bright start Sydney dominated the early play and a brilliant individual effort by Alex Brosque saw him open the scoring for Sydney in the 15th minute.

In the 35th minute Ian Fyfe dived low to head a cross into the back of the net. With Sydney at 2 nil at half time the over 6100 fans looked to the second half with anticipation that Sydney might pile on more goals and qualify for the final. These hopes were put on hold when a defensive error from Sydney saw the Phoenix put their first goal into the net in the 57th minute. Not long after, in the 60th minute, a foul by Dez Giraldi on Wellington's Adam Kwasnik in the penalty area saw Wellington awarded a penalty in the box. Shane Smeltz easily converted.

With Sydney desperate to score another goal, attacks were mounted but were easily repelled by the solid Phoenix back line. Then another Sydney defensive mistake saw the Phoenix’s Gao find the back of the net in the 82nd minute. The game finished with Wellington winning 3 – 2 and celebrating going to the final.

The game featured a number of players with Wollongong connections in Sydney's side. They were Dez Giraldi on loan from the Wolves, former Figtree junior Mitchell Prentice who was sent off late in the game after two yellow cards and Jacob Timpano. Former Unanderra junior Brendon Santalab is still out injured.
The good local crowd should help support the South Coast’s A-League bid for the 2010/11 or 2011/12 seasons.

Wolves 15s top, 16s and 18s miss out

In the last round of the Premier Youth League competition last weekend the Wollongong Wolves took on the Sutherland Sharks at Sutherland’s Seymour Shaw Park. As expected the table topping Wolves 15s were too strong for the ninth placed Sharks but the result was a surprising narrow 1 nil victory.

With a surprising win by the bottom placed Sharks 18s over the Wolves meant that the Wolves missed out on fourth spot and dropped to sixth just out of the play-offs. The table topping Sharks 14s were far too strong for the 10th placed Wolves running out comprehensive winners by 9 goals to nil. In another surprising result the ladder leading Sharks 13s were not able to overcome the ninth placed Wolves and were forced to a nil all draw.

The Wolves 16s had a solid 5 – 2 win over the 9th placed Sharks but they just missed out on the play-offs finishing in 6th spot. Full results for the round were:

Under 18: Wolves 2 Sharks 3
Under 16: Wolves 5 Sharks 2
Under 15: Wolves 1 Sharks 0
Under 14: Wolves 0 Sharks 9
Under 13: Wolves 0 Sharks 0

In the Club Championship, involving Senior teams (first grade, Under 20s) and some Premier Youth League Teams (18s, 16s and 15s) The Wolves just beat Sutherland into third spot behind Sydney Olympic and Manly United.

For stories on previous games and links to overall competition tables go to:  http://wollongong.sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=2812

Holiday Camps for Kids in October

NSW Sport and Recreation's action-packed kids' holiday camps are run by experienced and well-qualified instructors. Young people learn social living skills, experience challenging activities, develop self-esteem and make new friends. They also have great fun and won’t have a moment to spare!
http://www.dsr.nsw.gov.au/kidscamps/

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