As the 2020/21 VSBL season heads into the holiday break, Springvale Lions and North Western Titans lead Division 3 with 3-0 records. The season resumes on 17 Jan 2021a as teams look to keep rolling towards finals.
Division 3 Firsts
North Western Titans 9 v Bonbeach Bluejays 8
The Titans took away their third straight win after coming back late to defeat Bonbeach. The Bluejays scored one in the first and two in the third while keeping North Western scoreless through the first part of the game.
The Titans made it on the board with three in the fifth but the tied game didn't last long as Bonbeach scored another four in the bottom frame. The Bluejays final run came in the sixth as the Titans pulled it together, scoring five in the seventh and one more in the eighth. North Western held on for a scoreless ninth to get the win.
The Titans managed eight hits while Bonbeach had 14. James Crowe had four singles and Benjamin Morgan had three with two RBIs.
Second place North Western hosts Springvale to open 2021 while fifth place Bonbeach hosts Chelsea.
Pakenham Pumas 11 v Chelsea Dolphins 2
The Pumas earned their first victory of the season with a solid performance over Chelsea, scoring in six of the nine innings.
Pakenham brought three runners home in both the first and second, while Chelsea scored one in the third and one more in the eighth. Pakenham scored two more in the fourth, as well as one in the fifth, sixth and ninth.
Matthew Burton threw two innings for Chelsea, giving up five hits, two walks and one HBP as the Pumas scored six runs - three of them unearned. He also struck out two. Lachlan Davies was on the mound for four innings, giving up four hits, four walks and two runs - one unearned - with four strikeouts. Matthew Hannan contributed three innings, five hits, three walks and three runs allowed.
Offensively for Chelsea, Davies singled and walked while Hannan and Emmanuel Liu also had base hits. For Pakenham, Jarrad Bell singled, Danny Cannizzaro had two singles and a double and Scott Dale recorded an RBI with a base hit and a walk. Matthew Clements singled as Travis Ethan Hamilton took three walks and Travis Hough brought home two runners with a pair of hits. Mitchell Lording recorded three RBIs with two home runs and a single and Darren Reeves had a single and a double with an RBI.
1-2 Pakenham is in fourth place and plays Footscray at home in the next round while sixth place Chelsea heads to Bonbeach.
Springvale Lions 14 v Footscray Bulldogs 9
The Bulldogs put up a fight but the Lions held on, walking away with win number three on the season.
After a 15-1 win over Bonbeach in the previous round, the Lions picked up where they left off, scoring four in the first. The second inning was scoreless on both sides before Springvale tacked on another four in the third, followed by five Footscray runs in the bottom half.
Springvale responded with three more in the fourth and one in the fifth. The Bulldogs got two back in the fifth but it was canceled out by Springvale's 13th and 14th runs. Two more Footscray runners came home in the eighth but a quiet ninth kept the score at 14-9.
Springvale's Scott Baillie pitched four innings, giving up five hits and two runs with three strikeouts. Matthew Cameron contributed two innings with three hits, two walks and two runs given up, striking out one. Rydge Hogan threw three innings as well, giving up four hits and a walk with five runs scored and seven strikeouts.
Brittney Cedelland was on the mound for Footscray across 3.66 innings, with nine hits, three walks, one HBP and three strikeouts. Shane Kinlough threw three scoreless with three hits and two walks.
Baillie had two singles and a double for three RBIs, while Cameron singled three times with a walk and an RBI. Neal Cavanagh singled and walked twice, Hogan had a pair of base hits and brought in a run, and Brandon Mize walked twice with an RBI. Mark Richards had a base hit and two doubles for three RBIs, while Benjamin Rosewall had an RBI single and walk while Adam Thatcher brought in three with two singles and a walk.
Shane Dunn singled for Footscray while Jaime Harvey had three base hits. Heny Hernandez brought in four runs with a single and a homer as Asdrubal Jimenez singled twice and Matt Martin doubled. Joe Michaud recorded two RBIs with a home run and a single while David Ponce de Leon singled and walked.
Footscray is in third place with a 2-1 record while 3-0 Springvale is first with 47 runs scored and just 11 given up.
Both teams are on the road to start 2021 as Springvale plays North Western and Footscray plays Pakenham.
Division 3 Seconds
North Western Titans 0 v Bonbeach Bluejays 14
The Bluejays were an unstoppable force on Saturday, achieving their first victory of the year and a shutout at that. Back-to-back six run innings to start the game followed by two runs in the third and solid pitching kept this game going the Bluejays' way.
Bonbeach is 1-2 in fourth place as North Western sits sixth with a 0-2-1 record. Bonbeach hosts Chelsea next and North Western plays Springvale.
Pakenham Pumas 8 v Chelsea Dolphins 3
The game was 3-1 in Chelsea's favour after the first, but Pakenham buckled down to keep the Dolphins off the scoreboard for the rest of the game.
Pakenham scored two in the third and five in the fifth to get win number two on the board. The Pumas are in third place with a 2-1 record while Chelsea is 0-2-1 in fifth place. Chelsea plays at Bonbeach in round four and Pakenham hosts Footscray.
Springvale Lions 6 v Footscray Bulldogs 6
Both teams tried hard but in the end it was a draw, thanks to eight runs scored in the final inning alone.
Footscray opened the game with one run but Springvale scored two in the second. The third was scoreless before the Lions added another one in the fourth, followed by a quiet fifth.
Springvale scored three in the sixth and were in position to win but Footscray wasn't having it, battling back to score five runs and tie the game.
These top two teams both have two wins and one draw while Footscray is slightly in front thanks to 26 runs scored and 17 given up, compared to 19 scored and nine allowed for Springvale.
Footscray plays Pakenham in round four and Springvale plays North Western.