Div 2 4's Match Reports 2009/10

Round 18 (Feb 21 10) St Kilda 10 Fitzroy 13
Highlights: A sunny warm afternoon greeted  us as we took on 2nd place Fitzroy out at their  field, looking for a good performance as the season, for us winds down. Several roster changes for us as we welcomed Brett Renton and Ben Roberts back to the side, we also welcomed Ben Tan for his first run in the 4ths, up from the black team. Some good hitting in the first saw us take an early lead, but Fitzroy responded with 2 to wrestle the lead back and when we scored another 2 to jump back in front, the signs for closely fought battle were good. Fitzroy put up a 5 spot in the 3rd, something that  would normally demoralise the Saints, but not today, we chipped away here and there, tying it at 7 in the 5th, a huge triple to right from Brett sparking the inning. Our errant inning of the game was to follow as we allowed Fitzroy to score another 6 easy runs, but as we had done earlier, we refused to go away putting runners on, scoring 3 times ourselves and really putting an element of doubt into the Fitzroy team. Had the opportunity to score several more but squanded a couple of chances. A clean final fielding inning as time expired highlighting our inconsistent defence. Final game next week in our Friday night double header at Latrobe which should be, at the very least, interesting. A good way to end the season with good positive performance..............

Round 17 (Feb 14 10) St.Kilda 8 Fitzroy B 10

Our final home game of the season saw us take on the Fitzroy B team and with nothing riding on the game except pride, we were relaxed but optimistic. Marty Marek got the start but was roughed up in the first conceding 6, but to the boys credit, we responded with 5 runs of our own. Fitzroy scored two more times in the second as Marty battled away on the hill, the saints avoiding a potential big inning with yet another sweetly turned double play and by the end of the second the score sat at 8 to 6 in fitzroy's favour. Drew relieved Marty on the mound and kept the Roy boys scoreless for the next 3 innings, with some great pitching and some fine defence from fill in 3rd baseman robbie orme who turned another couple of double plays. Fitzroy had also made a pitching change and the game had become locked in pitcher’s duel. In the bottom of the 6th the saints got some runners in scoring position with a couple of hits and some great team batting, allowing Drew's hard shot to left to plate them both, tying the game at 8. Confidence was high now that a great result was within our grasp as we recorded the first 2 outs in order in the top of the last. A tough play at third, Robbie charging a mis hit ball up the line and  making a 'on the run' throw, not able to get the out, would prove costly as Fitzroy would rally scoring twice. Try as we might we weren't able to repeat the effort of the previous inning, Fitzroy taking the game  10 to 8. Yet another tough loss, which has been the story of the season thus far. On a positive note, another 4 double plays this week, taking our total to 13 over the last 5 games is very pleasing and all are curious to see if we can keep turning them in the remaining two  games................

Round 15 (Jan 31 10) Springvale 15 St Kilda 5

Highlights: With any chance of playing finals hinging on Sunday's result, the 4ths boys went into the game looking to knock of top of the table Springvale on a stinking hot day and a nasty north wind. But it was the Lions who came out swinging an equally hot bat, plating 6, shellshocking the Saints. We responded with one get get ourselves on the board early. Drew, who had been hit hard in the first, fought back and shut out the Lions in the second, third and fourth. We again scored, cutting the deficit to 4 and handed the ball to Sea, who also shut down the Lions top order. We were on top now but couldn't find a way to get to Springvale's pitcher, putting runners on, but unable to get them in. In the top of the sixth, we surrended 2 runs to take the game out to 8 to 2, but managed to avoid a big inning thanks to a sweet double play, our 5th in the  last 2 games, which has been a very pleasing part of our play recently. We needed some runs badly, but springy counted with old man Wearney, who was proving to be a handful, as we went down meekly. The top of the seventh was a game breaker, the wind causing havoc as the first five Lions hitters reaching base on shots that on a normal day would have been gimmes, the end result being 7 runs to their score. We rallied  in the last, scoring 3, but the deficit was to great and Springvale ran out deserving winners, ending our finals chances. A pretty good game in the field today in what was extremely trying conditions, but our hitting let us down again and has been our Achilles heel all season. A week off this week, thanks Claxton Shield, and a chance in the remaining 3 games to shape the four and maybe end some of the finals aspirations of several of the other clubs. Something l'm sure we will all delight in doing..................

2 Hits : Crockenberg (2B)
1 Hit : Orme (2B), Ansley, Everett, McRae.
BB : S O'Halloran, Tompkins.
RBI: Ansley, Everett, McRae.
Tompkins  (Loss)  4Inn 4ER 0BB 1K 11Hits
Ansley            3Inn 6ER 1BB 8Hits

Round 14 (Jan 24 10) St Kilda 5 Melbourne 7

Highlights: Someone once said “games are not won, they are lost.” Never a truer word was spoken as the Saints Fourths boys threw away a wonderful opportunity to push our way into the four. We played pretty well in the field and again Drew threw great for us, but our performance in the box when the game was there to be won was very disappointing. Some hard work early saw us go out to a 3 to 2 lead, but from there we seemed to turn our brains off. Wayward baserunning, missed signals and poor pitch selection would cost us dearly. Constantly putting runners on base and not capitalising was eventually going to come back to bit us, which of course it eventually did. Melbourne scored 5 more times, whilst we could only close the gap by a couple. In an extremely important game, we were found wanting. Two games out with 4 to play, we are certainly not out of it, but more performances like last week will ensure that we’ll be watching from the sidelines come finals time. With no easy games on the horizon, it’s time to put or shut..

Round 12 (Dec 20 09)

St.Kilda 17 defeated Werribee 0
Hits: 3 – SeanO (inc 2B), Tony (inc 2B). 2 – Robbie (inc 3B). 1 – Duncan, Luke.
Pitching:  Drew  5Inn 6H 3K 2BB 0ER

Highlights: Last game before the xmas break and an important one for us against a struggling Werribee outfit. A game of many highlights and a couple of 'firsts'. Number 1 'first', a big welcome from all to the team and the club to Mark Greasley (Grease), recently cleared, for his first game in St.Kilda colours. An excellent hitting display from all, although our baserunning left a lot to be desired at times. A flawless effort in the field was surpassed by drew's great performance on the mound, continuing his dominance over the last few weeks. Scoring runs in every inning was key, and we were able to achieve that, hitting standouts for the day were, SeanO and Tony with 3 apiece and Robbie O with 2 and creating havoc on the basepaths, whilst everyone made a significant contribution at some point in the box. Number 2 'first', envoking the new 15+ runs ahead after 5 innings rule, certainly a first for me too!! An extremely important win for us as we have the bye first up in Jan, some favourable results that round will ensure an opportunity to make a serious run at the four. I'm looking forward to it.......

Round 10

3 Hits : Lo, Roberts.
2 Hits : S O'Halloran (2B), Gibson (2B).
1 Hit : Heard.
RBI: Gibson 3, Lo 2, Roberts.
 
Tompkins   6Inn 1ER 1BB 5K 11Hits (Loss)

After two consecutive washouts, it was fair to say that the   lads were keen to get onto the field this week, as we made our way out to Mulgrave. Being only a game and percentage out of the four and the Rebels sporting a similar record to us, the importance of the contest for both sides was obvious. After three innings our lack of match practice was showing as we conceded 6 unearned runs, whilst bearly raising a whimper in the box ourselves, except for Gibbo driving in 2 with a gapper. To the boys credit the defense tightened up, allowing only 2 more runs for the game, the offense chipped away and we managed to get within one. Opportunities abounded in the final couple of innings, but alas we were unable to get those couple of clutch hits we needed, leaving 9 runners on, including the tying and go ahead runs in the last. A disappointing result, especially for Drew who, despite not having his best stuff, really  battled when it counted and didn't get the support he deserved conceding only 1 earned run. Hitting standouts for the day were Patrick and Ben with 3 hits each and Gibbo and Sean with 4 hits between them with a double each. Thanks to Josh and Luke helping us out after losing a couple of our regulars to the 3rds side,  Josh with a solid game at short and luke with a couple of nice plays in the outfield  and a textbook sac bunt. Saturday fixture at home against Berwick this week, another one of those sides that we need to beat. Looking for a much better performance after our enforced 2 week lay off and a game under our belt. I'm sure it's there.

Round 7

4 Hits : Orme.
2 Hits : Tompkins, Silvera, van de Mijl, Roberts,Gibson.
1 Hit : Renton(3B), Crockenberg(2B), O'Halloran(2B).
BB : Renton. HPB : S O'Halloran.
RBI: Orme 2, Tompkins 2, Renton 2, Roberts 2, Silvera, O'Halloran.
 
Drew Tompkins  7Inn 2ER 4K 3BB 7Hits
 
In the words of the late Harry Carey, SAINTS WIN, SAINTS WIN, SAINTS WIN. Yes l know he said CUBS not SAINTS, work with me here people. This week it was the Wildcats that came to town with their fourths side or was that their eighths or maybe it was the twelves, l don't know, who can keep up. All l know is that a competitive Wildcats team would show up and we had to play well to be any chance. The game started positively, both teams scoring once in the first inning. From there things started to get away from us as Waverley scored 6 times in the next 2 innings. Drew was getting hit and the defence only compounded the issue. This was the sort of start we had seen in previous weeks, but then a funny thing happened. The offence woke up, Drew pitched great, settling into a groove, giving up only 2 hits for the remainder of the game and the defence stood up, some great flys from Eulise and some  nice plays from Dunc and Seano, cumulating in a great diving catch and double up in centre by Robbie O to go with his 4 hits for the day. Nine runs in three innings gave us a 10 to 7 lead, one we would not relinquish this time. A great overall team effort by everyone and a well deserved win.

Round 6

St.Kilda 10 drew with Williamstown 10

Highlights:  Well it wasn't the result we had hoped for, or deserved, but it was a much improved performance from recent weeks as the Saints 4ths secured their first points in 3 weeks holding onto a tense 10 to 10 tie. With Scoop earning a well deserved promotion to the thirds, we handed the ball to Drew for his first Start in St.Kilda colors and what a job he did against a strong Williamstown lineup who were sitting fourth and with more than a smattering of 3rds premiership players from last season. Pete O'Sullivan made a cameo appearance in the 4ths side and we welcomed Scott and Cliff to the team. Offensively we acquitted ourselves very well getting the lead early and not surrendering it, albeit unluckily, until right at the very end. Highlights included some key clutch hits, good base running, a perfect sac bunt from cliff and applying pressure to their  defence and watching it crack for a change. Lowlights again were a few lapses in the field and a none out bases loaded situation were we failed to move anyone around the bases. These two incidents in particular changed the eventual outcome of the game. Going into the last, we had a 10 to 6 lead but after a couple of hits and a few errant plays they had cut the lead to one. With the tying run at 3rd with one out, the change was made to put the hard throwing Pete O on the hill to close it out, but things never pan out the way you would like them to. The Willy hitter, having no clue about Pete's stuff, blooped a mistimed swing that landed somewhere between 2nd and right to tie the game. The next two batters were retired with ease to preserve the draw. Frustrating to say the least. Having played 4 of the top 4 sides in the first 6 weeks we a looking forward to playing some of the lesser lights over the next few, hoping to start to close the gap. l'm sure we're up to it.....

Round 5

2 Hits : Crockenberg(2B).
1 Hit : Silvera(2B), Tompkins, Renton.

Round 4

St Kilda 2, Springvale 13

Although the scoreline would suggest a one sided game, this was far from the case. A very close tussle for most of the game against a very strong Springvale unit. We jumped out early thanks to a leadoff triple from Robbie, scoring on Brett's ground out. From there both sides had difficultly scoring with both pitchers and defences dominating. Springvale tied it up in the 3rd and then went ahead by one. At this point we were wondering where our next run would come from as it just wasn't happening for us in the box. But in the top of the 4th, Seano wore one in the ribs, got to second and scored standing on Gibbo's base hit to centre left. Springvale answered with two on some good hitting paired with a fielding indiscretion from our defence to take a 4 to 2 lead. Old man Wearne came on for the last 2 innings to ensure there would be no Saints comeback and try as we might, that turned out  to be the case. The lions put a 9 spot on the board late to blow the game out of reach, largely to some aggressive hitting and a fair share of luck. For as well as we played, particularly in defence, we fell well short with our efforts in the box. Not nearly aggressive enough in what is a hitting league. Something l'm sure we'll rectify.   SeanO

Hits: 1 - Eulise (inc 2B), Robbie (inc 3B), Gibbo, Drew, Scoop
Pitching:
Scoop inn H K BB R ER
Drew   inn H K BB R ER    

Round 3

2 Hits : Mayo (2B).
1 Hit : Lloyd (2B), Crockenberg, Corba, Meyer.
BB : Tompkins 2, Crockenberg, M O'Halloran, Corba, Lo.
RBI: Mayo 4, Crockenberg, Craske.

M O'Halloran 6Inn 6ER 10K 5BB 9Hits (Loss)

Round 2

3 Hits : S O'Halloran (2B), Craske (2B), Roberts (2B), Crockenberg.
1 Hit : Richards (2B), Corba, Lo, Mayo, Quinn.
BB : Lo 2, Craske, Mayo, Quinn, Richards.
RBI: Crockenberg 3, S O'Halloran 3, Craske 2, Lo 2, Corba 2, M O'Halloran 2, Richards, Mayo.

M O'Halloran 7Inn 0ER 10K 1BB 5Hits (Win)

Round 1

2 Hits : Lo (2B), Crockenberg (2B), B Gibson.
1 Hit : Tenniswood, M O'Halloran.
BB : S O'Halloran, B Gibson.
RBI: Lo, Crockenberg, Tenniswood.

M O'Halloran 6Inn 3ER 5K 3BB 6Hits (Loss)