Leading teams win in Round 4 of Illawarra Baseball League

The leading three teams recorded wins in round 4 fixtures of the 2009 I B L premiership played Saturday. Wests Cardinals defeated Pirates 5-1 at Cringila Community Park spearheaded by a game winning effort from starting pitcher Blake Handley. Handley, who had a big input into Country N S W winning the Australian Provincial Championships in Perth a week ago, threw 8 innings allowing one earned run on 5 hits.

Offensively, first baseman Lee Vlasoff featured with 3 / 5 and 1 RBI while Paul Trembearth batted 2 / 4 with 2 RBI's.  Cardinals outhit Pirates 10-5 with both teams committing one error..

Cardinals held a 3-0 lead at the completion of two innings but were held scoreless through the next five innings while Pirates relief pitcher Chris Pallamontagne was operating. The home team was back within striking distance when Chris Newbold batted in a run in the sixth. Cardinals secured the outcome in the bottom of the eighth where two runs were converted.

In other games Berkeley Eagles defeated Kiama Braves 6-3, Tim Atherton and Logan Kingham recording 3 / 4 in Eagles total of 10 hits.  Eagles held a 5-0 lead after four innings but saw the visitors narrow the margin when Evan Hayes batted in three runs with his triple in the fifth.  Eagles scored the game’s final run in the sixth.

Both teams used pitching rosters sparingly, Eagles calling on four pitchers and Braves using three. The most noteworthy effort came from Eagles starter Hayden Beard who continued the previous week’s scintillating form by striking out seven of the eight batters he faced and picking off the other retirement without conceding a hit or run.

Dapto Chiefs kept their unbeaten record intact with a convincing 13-0 win over Shoalhaven Mariners guided by starting pitcher Aaron Wirth. Wirth, who also returned from playing with Country N S W  at the Australian Provincial Championships, threw 5.0 hitless shutout innings. Craig Leighton featured in Chiefs total of eight hits registering 2 / 4.

In round five Major League fixtures Berkeley Eagles host Dapto Chiefs at Eagles Field, Fred Finch Park, Berkeley while Shoalhaven Mariners host Pirates on the #2 Field at the same venue. Kiama Braves return home at Gainsborough Reserve, Kiama Downs to play Wests Cardinals. First grade games commence at 2.00pm.

First  Grade: Wests Cardinals 5 Northern Pirates 1; Berkeley Eagles 6 Kiama Braves 3; Dapto Chiefs 13 Shoalhaven Mariners 0

Second Grade: Chiefs 5 Mariners 0; Braves 13 Eagles 1; Cardinals 7 Pirates 6
Third Grade:  Chiefs 23 Mariners 0; Cardinals 11 Pirates 10; Eagles 15 Braves 1
Minor League Warriors (4) 14 Panthers (5) 3; Panthers (4) 18 Warriors (5) 5; Pirates 16 Braves 7; Cardinals 15 Chiefs 5

For more Illawarra Baseball stories go to: http://wollongong.sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=3394

Illawarra Hawks take the Heat in State League Basketball

In last weekend’s Pool D Game against the Macarthur Heat, the Illawarra Hawks proved too strong for the Macarthur Heat winning by 66 to 52. Top scorers for the Hawks were Bonham with 17, Hodgson 12 and Epe 12. For the Heat, McCoy (16), Natrass (14) Ryan (6) dominated the points.

After 8 rounds the Hawks sit in second spot with 7 wins, behind the undefeated Hawkesbury Jets but ahead of the Macarthur Heat (6 wins) and Springwood Scorchers (5).

For more on Men’s State League Basketball go to http://www.nswbasketball.net.au/events/2009/SBL/Men/09D1MResults.htm

For more Illawarra basketball stories go to: http://wollongong.sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=1370

Roller Derby comes to Wollongong

Wollongong Illawarra Roller Derby (WIRD) is bringing women’s flat track roller derby to the area in 2009!

For those of you who don’t remember, roller derby is a competitive full contact sport played on old school quad style roller skates. The game is played between two teams of five skaters and the object is for the ‘Jammer’ (point scorer identified by the star on her helmet) to pass members of the opposing team, scoring points for each opponent she laps.

Sounds pretty easy – right? Except for the four ‘Blockers’ in her way! These Blockers make up the majority of the players and their two main jobs are to help their own Jammer get through the pack and stop the other team’s Jammer.  Games last between forty and sixty minutes and are broken into halves.

Modern roller derby is a grassroots movement spreading across the globe. At this stage only women over 18 can skate but male skaters over 18 are encouraged to join as referees and officials and non skaters of all ages can volunteer to help out in other ways. If you would like to join up as a skater or if you would like to volunteer in some other way go to the WIRD website http://www.wird.com.au/ .

To find out more about the sport in general (including rules and official resources) please check out the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association at http://www.wftda.com/  and to find roller derby in other places visit the Roller Derby Worldwide roster on http://www.derbyroster.com/ .  

Plenty of goals for Wollongong in Premier Youth League

All Wollongong teams except the 18s picked up goals in last week’s games against Manly United in Premier Youth League. This resulted in two wins and two draws for the local sides with only the 18s going down.

Results for the round played last week against Manly United FC were: 

Under 13: Wollongong drew 2 all
Under 14: Wollongong drew 1 all
Under 15: Wollongong won 2 -1 
Under 16: Wollongong won 2 nil
Under 18: Wollongong lost 2 nil   

Wollongong teams play their next round against West Sydney Berries, at Elizabeth Park, Bellambi with the 13s beginning at 9 am on Saturday May 2.

Previous SportsLive reports on the Wollongong Premier Youth League teams can be found at: http://wollongong.sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=3462
More results and the draw can be found at http://www.soccernsw.com.au/index.php?id=78

Register for Sydney’s World Masters Games:

As at late March 6700 people had registered for the World Masters games in Sydney on October 10 -18, 2009. Over 28 sports will cater for participants of varying standards and ages. For example, tennis has singles, doubles and mixed doubles in ten year age brackets from 30+ to 80+ with A grade for competition players and B grade for social players and beginners.
Registrations close on July 31. For more details go to the World Games web site: http://www.2009worldmasters.com/default.aspx

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