Illawarra players in Country NSW national baseball title team
Six Illawarra baseball players were in the Country NSW which took out the title in the men's Australian Provincial Championships. The men’s event took place in Perth from April 11 to April 18. Illawarra players in the winning team were Trent D’Antonio, Blake Handley, Brendan Lower, Stuart McCarthy, Chase Richardson, and Aaron Wirth.
The women’s tournament was played over the same time period but in Geelong. Eryn Shipp was the sole IBL representative lining up with the Country New South Wales team that finished fourth when the titles were played in Wollongong in 2008. IBL Secretary Judy Clifford was the team Executive Officer. Country NSW took out 5th place in the tournament
Results of the Men's Championship:
NSW won opening game of tournament by 5 nil over ACT and then its second game over Victoria Provincial by 4 – 3. Results to follow in the preliminary rounds were: NSW 13 ACT 3; NSW 11 South Australia 5; NSW 8 Victoria Provincial 5; NSW 10 WA 2; NSW 1 South Australia 6 (NSW had already qualified for grand final and played some of its bench players)
The grand final qualifying semi-final saw Victorian Provincial defeating Western Australia 2 nil to play NSW Country in the grand final.
NSW Country proved too strong for Victoria Provincial in the grand final winning 11 - 1 to take the title. For all the results of the tournament go to http://www.waprovincialleague.baseball.com.au/?Page=51960
Results for Women's Championship:
Country NSW lost to Western Australia 9 – 8; Country NSW lost to NSW 17 – 7; Country NSW defeated Queensland 14 – 8; Country NSW lost to Victoria 13 – 6; Country NSW defetated Victoria Provincial 9 – 8; Country NSW 11 Queensland 9; Country NSW 13 Victoria 10; Country NSW 3 Queensland 13; Country NSW 10 Victoria Provincial 0.
Play-off for fifth place - Country NSW 12 defeated Victoria Provincial 1. The title was won by Victoria who defeated NSW by 15 -13 in the final.
For full results on the tournament go to: http://www.baseball.com.au/default.asp?MenuID=Events/95/0,National_Womens_Championships/22181/36064
For more Illawarra baseball stories go to: http://wollongong.sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=3394
Dapto Chiefs – surprise leaders after round 3 in Illawarra Baseball
The 2009 Illawarra Baseball League premiership has a surprise leader following the completion of round three last weekend. Dapto Chiefs emerged as the only unbeaten team following a 6-3 win over defending premiers Wests Cardinals at Hector Harvey Reserve, Dapto. With both teams having a number of players away on representative commitments Chiefs secured the win with two runs in the eighth innings.
In other games Pirates also came home strongly in the late innings for their first win of the season at Thomas Dalton Park, Fairy Meadow. The Bucs got up 5-1 win over Kiama Braves scoring one in the seventh and two in the eighth after both teams scored in the first inning. Berkeley Eagles won a seven innings encounter 10-0 over Shoalhaven Mariners scoring five runs in the sixth and one in the seventh.
Cardinals held a 2-1 lead until Chiefs ran in three runs in the fifth but were back within a run after batting the top of the next inning. The score stayed that way until Chiefs rallied with two in the bottom of the eighth. Chiefs starting pitcher Matt McCann had a good outing conceding no earned runs on four hits in 3.2 innings. Reliever Jarrett Commane, who returned from pitching for the New South Wales Patriots at the Australian under 23 Championships four days earlier, stood out by pitching 4.1 innings for two hits and no earned runs. Commane and Troy Green topped the hitting with two hits and one RBI each.
The Pirates / Braves game also saw outstanding pitching particularly by the home team’s young combination. Starter Chris Pallamontagne, having his first outing in the top grade, pitched 3.2 innings for one hit and no earned runs and reliever Lachlan Crawley kept the momentum going with 5.1 shutout innings in which he conceded three hits and struckout six. Pirates outhit Braves 8-4, Corey Hayman was the best hitter in the game registering 3 / 5 with one RBI while Luke Rich and Brad Robson had two hits each.
Eagles pitchers, brothers Hayden and Tim Beard held Mariners scoreless in their six innings pitched. Hayden allowed one hit and recorded the feat of retiring all nine outs by way of strikeout. Tim also allowed one hit and struckout four. Sam Thornton, Kaine Abbott and Aaron Tritton registered two hits each in Eagles total of 11.
Second Grade: Chiefs 11 Cardinals 0; Braves 8 Pirates 7; Eagles 9 Mariners 5
Third Grade: Cardinals 8 Chiefs 2: Pirates 13 Braves 12; Eagles 17 Mariners 6
Minor League: Warriors (5)9 Panthers (5)9; Warriors (4)12 Chiefs 3; Pirates 9 Cardinals 3
In next Saturday’s round four schedule Shoalhaven Mariners host Dapto Chiefs at #2 Field, Fred Finch Park, Berkeley and Berkeley Eagles play Kiama Braves at Eagles Field, Fred Finch Park. The remaining fixture sees Wests Cardinals play Pirates at Cringila Community Park. First grade games commence at 2.00pm.
Jets scrape past Illawarra Hawks in Basketball’s State league
In the State Basketball League, the Illawarra Hawks met the Hawkesbury Jets in a top-of-the-table clash at Beaton Park on Saturday night. In what was sometimes an ugly and ill-tempered contest the Jets led 37 – 32 at half time before scraping home 76-66.
The top scorers for the Hawks were B Bonhan (14), D Jepson (11) and B Dragun (10) while for the visiting Jets G Godwin top scored with 24 followed by B Wells (15) and R crane (10). The Jets now are alone on top of Pool D of the State League.
For more on this game and Men’s State League Basketball go to http://www.nswbasketball.net.au/events/2009/SBL/Men/09D1MResults.htm
Only 18s get on the paddock in Premier Youth League
All last weekend’s Premier Youth League games between Wollongong and Marconi were postponed except for the 18s. Wollongong prevailed in this match by 3 – 1.
The next round is split over two days with Wollongong’s 13s and 14s playing Manly from 6.30pm at Cromer Park on Tuesday April 21, while the 15s, 16s and 18s games are being played at the same venue on Anzac Day from 12 noon.
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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