Wollongong's Stibners and Knowles in Aussie Rollers gold win

It was the Beijing Paralympics all over again as the Australian Rollers downed Canada to take the Gold, 77-48 at the Rollers World Challenge at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre on Saturday night.

The Australians’ dominance of the event was rewarded with two players named to the tournament All-Star Five; forward Justin Eveson and guard Michael Hartnett. Japan’s big destroyer Reo Fujimoto and guard Shingo Fujii, and Bronze medallist Great Britain’s Captain Jon Pollock rounded out the five.

Eveson’s night was capped off with the prestigious 2008 Sandy Blythe Medal for International Wheelchair Player of the Year for his efforts in leading the Rollers at the Paralympic Games in Beijing.

Rollers Head Coach Ben Ettridge said the Canadians put up a tough fight.
“They went away and did their homework after our first game and it made us make the adjustments and go to plans B and C which is why we’re here,” Ettridge said.
“It was just an outstanding effort all the way through.”

Rollers Captain Brad Ness led all scorers in the final with 21 points while Nick Taylor added 14 points in just his fourth game for Australia and Eveson bagged 13 points and grabbed a game high nine rebounds.

Ettridge went with his most experienced side when selecting the final twelve players to take the court tonight but had a new-look starting five.
“We went back and had a look and that new combination worked really well for us. We also knew that Canada would be preparing for the usual suspects so we thought we would throw a curve ball and the boys did really well,” Ettridge said.

Photos: Brett Stibners, Tristan Knowles in action in the tournament.

Ettridge gave Bill Latham together with Wollongong's Brett Stibners and Tristan Knowles their first start and the Canadians took advantage of the younger line-up to steal a quick seven point lead.

The young guns worked hard to get back within two points before Brad Ness, Justin Eveson, Shaun Norris and Michael Hartnett were brought on. The rest of the quarter went all the Aussies’ way as they forged a five point lead by the first break, 20-15.
Eveson and Ness lit up from the outside in the second quarter as the Australians worked hard to get their big men free. Despite losing the rebound contest for the quarter, the Rollers had extended their lead to nine points at halftime, 39-30.

Canada came out in the third quarter firing with David Durepos opening the scoring in with a huge three. Yvon Rouillard put up his own long bomb and the Canadians had closed the gap to just three points.

Photos: Canada’s coach addresses players, Australian coach Wells talks to his team (all photos from first round match courtesy of Noel Rowsell, www.photoexcellence.com.au)

Australia’s guards took on the Canadian forwards, frustrating Adam Lancia and getting crucial turnovers and rebounds as the Rollers took charge again and raced away to a 14 point lead at the last break, 58-44.
Ness kept a cool head in a tough situation as he barrelled through the paint to get a hard-earned basket and buried Canada’s hopes of a comeback.

Five-time Paralympian Troy Sachs came back on with five minutes remaining to fire up the Aussies and from there it was too easy for the Rollers. The Australians strolled home 33 point victors.
Earlier in the Bronze Medal Game Great Britain overpowered Japan 76-58 led by Pollock with 26 points.

Quarter by quarter:
1: AUS 20 CAN 15
H: AUS 39 CAN 30 (19-15)
3: AUS 58 CAN 44 (19-14)
F: AUS 77 CAN 48 (19-4)

AUSTRALIA 77 (Brad Ness 21, Nick Taylor 14, Justin Eveson 13) defeated CANADA 48 (Yvon Rouillard 14, Adam Lancia 10, David Eng 7) at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre
For reports of Australia’s 3 wins to get to final go to : http:// sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=3856

Robert Hurley's relay bronze in world swimming championships

Wollongong's Robert Hurley has won bronze as part of the Australian 4 x 200m freestyle relay team at the World Championships in Rome. The event was won by the Michael Phelps led USA in 6:58.55, followed by Russia in 6:59.15 and Australia third in 7.01.65.

Photo: Robert Hurley shows his gold medal at the Australian Swimming Championships when he won the 400m and selection for the world championships.

The Australian team consisted of Kenrick Monk, Robert Hurley, Tommaso D'Orsogna and Pat Murphy. They broke both the Australian and Commonwealth records with their swim. Three of the Australian team are 21 years old or younger so this augurs well for the future.

Hurley's last event of the tough meet was the 1500m freestyle with the heats on Saturday August 1. He was ranked 14th after the heats in 15:14.75. Fellow Australian Ryan Napoleon was ranked 11th in 15.09.55. As there are no semi-finals both Australians missed out on the final.
For other reports on Hurley’s performances during the championship and other stories on his rise to prominence  go to: http://wollongong.sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=1798

To see his results and those of other Australian swimmers including Stephanie Rice, Jessica Schipper and Brenton Rickard during the week go to: http://www.fina.org/pool/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=768
Pirates push Eagles in Illawarra baseball

Pirates push Eagles in Illawarra Baseball

Northern Pirates took Berkeley Eagles to the wire before going down 4-3 in round 17 fixtures of the 2009 Illawarra Baseball League played Saturday. Pirates drew level at 3-3 in the top of the eighth innings and fought hard to defend a bases loaded, no outs situation in the bottom of the inning before allowing the winning run to score on a two out walk.

Both teams had difficulties converting runs early in the game before Pirates broke through in the fifth converting two runs, the first on Chris Newbold’s RBI single and the second on a bases loaded walk issued to Brad Drain. The advantage was short lived however with Eagles coming back with three runs in the bottom of the inning where a double by Andrew Coad was converted on a single by Joe Anson and the third run on Logan Kingham’s RBI.

The pitching on both teams outclassed the hitting where each team registered six hits. Pirates starting pitcher Chris Pollamontagne allowed three earned runs on five hits in 4.1 innings and reliever John Noonan allowed one earned run on one hit in 3.2 innings. Eagles starter Tim Beard allowed two earned runs on five hits in 4.0 innings and reliever Josh Doyle gave up one earned run on one hit in 4.0 innings. Tim Atherton shut down Pirates in the final innings retiring all three outs by way of strikeouts.

Aaron Tritton batted 2 / 3 for Eagles and Corey Hayman 2 / 3 for Pirates. Pirates left a total of ten on base and failed to capitalise on a total of 11 walks issued.

Wests Cardinals defeated Shoalhaven Mariners 10-0 in seven innings outhitting the opposition 5-2. Cards Catcher Trent D’Antonio topped the hitting for the game batting 3 / 4 with 4 RBI’s. 2008 IBL season MVP Josh Dean made a welcome return to the Red Birds lineup after an eight week break by pitching the first four innings and batting 1 / 3 with 2 RBI’s.

Dapto Chiefs continued to be undefeated this season with a 16-2 defeat on Kiama Braves in seven innings. Chiefs racked up 11 hits to Braves 4, Mitch Thompson batting 2 / 5 with 3 RBI’s and Jamie Bird batting 1 / 5 and 3 RBI’s.

Round 17:
First Grade:
Berkeley Eagles 4 Runs (6 hits, 3 errors) defeated Northern Pirates 3 Runs (6 hits, 1 error)
Dapto Chiefs 16 Runs (11 hits, 2 errors) defeated Kiama Braves 2 Runs (4 hits, 3 errors)
Wests Cardinals 10 Runs (5 hits, 3 errors) defeated Shoalhaven Mariners 0 Runs (2 hits, 4 errors)

Second Grade: Eagles 5 Pirates 4; Chiefs 7 Braves 1;  Cardinals 12 Mariners 3
Third Grade: Pirates 12 Eagles 10; Chiefs 11 Braves 3; Cardinals 22 Mariners 6

Deferred round 11 games
First Grade: Berkeley Eagles 14 Runs (20 hits, 5 errors) defeated Wests Cardinals 8 Runs (10 hits, 4 errors)
Second Grade: Eagles 8 Cardinals 6
Third Grade: Cardinals 21 Eagles 1

Minor League Round 17: Cardinals 8 Pirates 8; Panthers (5) 19 Warriors (5) 6; Warriors (4) 10 Chiefs 8; Panthers (4) Braves
Deferred Round 11:  Panthers (5) 16 Warriors (4) 9; 

Deferred round 11 games between Wests Cardinals and Berkeley Eagles were played on Sunday. In first grade Eagles defeated Cardinals 14-8 registering 20 hits to 10 in the process. Errors made for an ugly game, the victors tallying seven unearned runs while Cardinals had five unearned runs.

Eagles starter Joe Anson – 2.2 innings, 3 hits and one earned run and reliever Hayden Beard – 2.1 innings, one hit, two earned runs were the pick of the pitchers. Chris Morgan batted 3 / 4 with 3 RBI’s for Eagles while Ben Garvey batted 3 / 3 for Cardinals.

In next weekend’s games, round 18 fixtures are scheduled for Saturday, August 8 and the second series of rescheduled round 11 games will be played on Sunday, August 9. In Saturday’s games Wests Cardinals host Dapto Chiefs at Cringila Community Park. Other games are Berkeley Eagles v. Shoalhaven Mariners at Eagles Field, Fred Finch Park, Berkeley and Kiama Braves v. Northern Pirates at Gainsborough Reserve, Kiama Downs. On Sunday Pirates play Chiefs at Thomas Dalton Park, Fairy Meadow. First grade games commence at 2.00pm.

First Grade Table: Chiefs 96%, Eagles 77%, Cardinals 75%, Pirates 33%, Braves 17%, Mariners 4%. For more Illawarra Baseball stories go to: http://wollongong.sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=3394

Illawarra Stingrays increase lead after Macarthur’s shock loss

Rob McKie reports: Well this weekend has been one to remember. Although playing bottom team Sutherland the Stingrays struggled to get any cohesion into their game after scoring in the 5th minute Michelle Heyman and 29th minute Ash Connor and leading 2-0 which ended up the final score. An injury to Talitha Kramer soured the win and Tilly will have treatment on Monday to see what damage has been done to her left leg.

Although playing uneventful football the Stingrays were elated to find out that their nemesis Macarthur suffered a shock 5-0 loss to Manly who have now slipped into 2nd position. This now puts the Stingrays at worst 5 points in front of Macarthur and 6 in front of Manly. In another shock score Sydney University suffered a 3-1 defeat to the struggling Penrith, the Stingrays play Sydney University next weekend at home J.J.Kelly Park.

Reserve grade played their best football all season and won 6-0. Sam Muscat 3, Jessica Cooper1, Stephanie Bunker1 & U14 player Kristina Janeska were the scorers. U16's scored a 1 all draw with Jasmine Pearce scoring from a penalty. U14's won in the final minutes 1-0 with Kristina Janeska being the scorer. U12's lost 2-0
The Stingrays lead the table on 45 points from Manly United on 39, Macarthur Rams 37 (one game in hand), NWS Koalas 26, Sydney University 20, Marconi Stallins 11, Penrith Nepean United 11 and Sutherland Sharks 7

The next few weeks will be very important to the Stingrays with the distinct possibility that the last home game against Manly could decide the champions for 2009. The Illawarra United Football Club would love to be able to celebrate that feat in their last home game and celebrate with their fans.
For more stories on the Illawarra Stingrays go to: http://wollongong.sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=3731. 

Wollongong’s black day in Premier Youth League soccer

Wollongong had a tough round last weekend in round 21 of the Premier Youth League. The strong Blacktown City club won 4 of the 5 matches with only Wollongong’s 14s picking up a draw.

Following the round, Wollongong still leads the 18s, the 16s have dropped to third, the 13s remain third and the 14s retain fifth position. The 15s are 8th and out of play-off contention with one game to play.

Results for the round played last week against Blacktown City were: 

Under 13: Wollongong lost 1 nil
Under 14: Wollongong drew 2 all
Under 15: Wollongong lost 1 nil 
Under 16: Wollongong lost 1 nil
Under 18: Wollongong lost 3 nil   

Next weekend Wollongong teams play against Sydney Tigers beginning with the 13s at 9 am on Saturday August 8 at Lambert Park.

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

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