It is with an extremely heavy heart that I need to let everyone connected with the GBA and its clubs know that Michael Riches was tragically killed in a car accident near Bendigo on Tuesday of last week.
Michael is the third son of Mark and Leonie Riches. Mark has been a junior coach in the GBA for a number of years. Many of our members would know him and his family and the great work Mark does for junior baseball in the GBA.
Our thoughts and deepest sympathy are extended to Mark, Leonie, Simon, Shelby, Peter, Carly, Phil and extended families and friends at this tragic time.
Special thoughts and deepest sympathy are also sent to Brooke, Michael's partner.
Funeral arrangements are posted below.
Tony McPherson
(Executive Officer, Geelong Baseball Association)
RICHES, Michael John
RICHES. The funeral of Michael Riches will be held at the Werribee Racing Club, Bulban Rd, Werribee, on WEDNESDAY (Oct. 8, 2014) at 11.00 a.m. A private cremation will follow. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Cancer Council of Victoria, envelopes will be available at the racecourse.
Published in Herald Sun on 06/10/2014
For the second year in a row the New South Wales Blue Sox are your 2014 National Under 25 Champions defeating the Western Australia Heat 5-0.
In a game that remained scoreless until the bottom of the 5th, it was a match-up of two equal teams. In a string of hits and steals, New South Wales scored two runs from three hits to give them the advantage in the 5th. New South Wales added an additional 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th to win the game 5-0, defending their title for the second year in a row.
The Final standings are:
1. New South Wales
2. Western Australia
3. Queensland
4. South Australia
5. Victoria
2014 award winners
Most Valuable Player: Alex Howe (NSW)
Golden Bat: Nick Rossell (VIC)
Golden Glove: Alex Howe (NSW)
Golden Arm: Travis McDonald (NSW)
2014 All-Star team:
Congratulations to the award winners, and to all the teams and players who have participated in the 2014 National Under 25 Championships.
For all game results and statistics visit the event page at baseball.com.au and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Photo by Chris Lodge
New South Wales defeated Western Australia yesterday morning to automatically advance to the Gold Medal game on day 5 at the National Under 25 Championships.
New South Wales secured an 8 run lead in the first, and added another 6 runs to their lead by the 4th. Although Western Australia attempted a come back in the 5th, they were defeated 14-2.
Western Australia played Queensland in the afternoon for the second spot in the gold medal game. It was a close game with massive bombs hit to the outfield. Western Australia drew the lead early after Robert Ireton singled and Adam Gendall brought him in for their first run. WA maintained their lead until the 6th when Qld scored 7 making the score 7-1. WA went on to score 7 of their own runs winning the game 8-7 and advancing to the gold medal game.
Queensland will play in the bronze medal game versus South Australia who played their best game of the championship against Victoria. SA were able to capitalise on ten hits to score 4 runs and defeat Victoria 4-1.
Queensland will play South Australia at 9:00am for the bronze medal followed by New South Wales playing Western Australia at 1:00pm for the gold.
For game updates visit the event page at baseball.com.au or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
Game reports by Neil Barrowcliff
The Australian Schoolboys team has won the Chandler Bat Fall Classic Tournament in Phoenix, Arizona. The tournament consisted of four games with the team winning 3 and tying the fourth.
Game 16 vs Adam Kennedy
After walks from Neunborn, Frew and Turnbull, a line drive from McCallum put Australia on the board first. Adam Kennedy Baseball responded with their own run on the back of two hits and two walks.
We came alive in the 3rd, McCallum drew a walk and stole second and third and was brought home by Baker, Holding singled and Rawlinson walked to load the bases. Quirk then smashed one to centre field to bring in two runs, Neunborn followed up with another single to score Rawlinson making our lead 5-1.
We added another run in the 5th when Holding drew a lead off walk, King singled and Rawlinson’s sacrifice fly scored Holding to extend our lead to 6 – 1. Eciondo threw the entire game and continued to shut them ending the game 6-1.
Game 17 vs California Dawgs
Inn/Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
V
Australia
3
0
3
1
0
7
9
1
H
California Dawgs
3
2
2
0
0
7
5
1
Frew started the game off with a single, McCallum walked, Turnbull singled to drive in a run, Baker sacrifice flied to bring in another, and King singled to score a third. The Dawgs quickly hit back and scored three of their own. Steedman had started the game but some hits and a number of walks saw DeJong come on in relief and get the last out of the innings.
We failed to score in the 2nd and the Dawgs led off with a base hit followed by a triple and ended up scoring two runs to take the lead 5 – 3.Then in the 3rd, King walked and D’Avoine singled. Successive doubles by Bourke and Frew scored three and we had retaken the lead 6 – 5. Dawgs then responded and a hit and a walk saw Whitehead relieve DeJong on the mound. We should have got out of the innings, but a costly error with two outs ended up costing us two runs and so at the end of the 3rd we were again behind 7 – 6.
In the 4th, Turnbull singled up the middle and stole second. He was moved over by Baker and ended up scoring when King’s ground ball to third base was errored. Whitehead had found his groove on the mound and had a three up three down innings, so at the end of the 4th the scores were locked up at 7- 7.
In what was the final innings of the game, we failed to score and Whitehead threw another good innings to hold them out also and the game finished tied at 7 -7. Turnbull had gone 3 for 3 with the bat, and Whitehead had done a good job in shutting down the opposition hitters over the last few innings.
Game 18 vs California Dawgs
Inn/Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
V
So Cal Victory
0
1
0
0
0
1
3
0
H
Australia
0
0
5
0
4
9
7
2
Josh Hendrickson started on the mound, it was tight early on with the first run coming from Victory in the top of the 2nd, after an infield error. Then in the 3rd, Whitley led off with a towering double to deep left centre and was followed up by Bourke singling down the left field line. Quirk then laid down a perfect bunt for a base hit which also scored Whitley. McCallum walked to load the bases and Turnbull kept his hot streak going with his double to right field clearing the bases. Holding then singled to score Turnbull and 5 runs were added to the scoreline for the inning.
Hendrickson shut them down again in the 4th and then came out of the game. It had easily been his most impressive performance of the tour and he came out of the game with a 5 – 1 lead. He was relieved by Rawlinson for the start of the 5th who kept them scoreless.
In the bottom of the 5th, McCallum led off with a walk and stole second. Baker also walked and Holding doubled to right field, scoring McCallum and moving Baker over to third. King’s sacrifice fly scored Baker. Neunborn walked and then Whitley smashed his second double of the game over left field’s head to bring in Holding and Neunborn. The four runs for the innings meant we were now in front 9- 1. Whitley and Hendrickson had been the best performers for the game and Turnbull had got 3RBIs.
Australia won the tournament with 3 wins and a tie, the team will now travel back to California for the final days of their tour.
For more updates visit baseball.com.au or schoolsport.edu.au
After play on day 4 at the National Under 25 Championships New South Wales remains on top of the ladder, however Western Australia is not far behind. These two teams will play each other today to determine who will finish in the top position and automatically advance to the gold medal game.
Prior to yesterday Western Australia was sitting under Queensland in third, but two wins including defeating the second place team allowed them to advance. Their game versus Queesnland was a close one with Qld starting the game with the first homerun on the main field from Mitch Nilsson. Queensland maintained the lead through to the bottom of the 5th, when Western Australia scored two runs from two hits giving them the lead to finally win the game 3-2.
Other outstanding plays from the day included a grandslam to left field in the top of the 6th from Guy Edmonds in the New South Wales versus Victoria game to break the tie.
Victoria also had their bats up and swinging yesterday with two homeruns during their game versus South Australia, one from Nick Rossell with 3 RBI’s and the other from Ben Leslie with an RBI.
With only two more games of round robin play, New South Wales sits on top with 12 points, Western Australia with ten, Queensland with 8, Victoria with 6 and South Australia in 5th position.
New South Wales must win their game against Western Australia this morning in order to advance. A win by Western Australia will put the two teams on equal points, and the team to automatically advance will be determined by runs against during their two games.
For more game updates visit the event page at baseball.com.au or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
Photograph by Chris Lodge
The race to 1st place remains tight with New South Wales once again sitting on top of the ladder at the National Under 25 Championships.
The reigning champions from New South Wales appear to be the team to beat, especially with powerhouse Jermey Bec at the bat and Hayden Jones on the field. Yesterday Bec hit 2 singles, a double and 4 RBI’s off two hits against South Australia and Jones had the catch of the day with a diving catch on the left field foul line.
However Queensland is only one game behind New South Wales and Western Australia two games behind so finishing first is still up for grabs. Western Australia also had an outstanding catch from short stop Matthew Dixon, who dove for the ball to get the out.
At the completion of the two round robins at midday tomorrow all teams will have played each other twice. The team ranked first will automatically qualify for the championship game, the other four teams will play for positions in both the championship and bronze medal games.
The second round robin will continue today with double headers for Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia, as well as single games for Queensland and New South Wales.
For more game updates visit the event page at baseball.com.au or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
The Minister for Sport The Hon Peter Dutton MP and the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women The Hon Michaelia Cash, announced the opening of the 2014-15 grant round through a media release, to highlight the contribution of women in sport. The Women Leaders in Sport grant program provides female administrators, coaches and officials with opportunities to undertake intermediate or advanced training within an existing pathway in the sport industry to reach their leadership potential. Individuals can apply for up to $5,000 and Organisations can apply for up to $10,000 to undertake training in the areas of coaching, communications, media and marketing, governance, management and administration, and officiating.
To be eligible for a grant, individuals must be involved in a paid or volunteer capacity at a local, state or national level in the sport industry for the duration of the project, and both individuals and organisations must be supported by a sporting organisation that is affiliated with a National Sporting Organisation (NSO) recognised by the ASC.
Applications will close at 4.00pm AEST on Wednesday 22 October 2014.
For more information on the program and to apply, please visit the Women Leaders in Sport webpage on the ASC website.
After the completion of round 1 at the National Under 25 Championships in Cairns, the Queensland Bandits and the New South Wales Blue Sox are tied for first position. In an upset, Queensland defeated the reigning champions from New South Wales 6-5 in a fight to the end.
New South Wales were the first on the board after James Vergos double to left field and a single from Guy Edmonds brought him across the plate. Queensland responded with their own run in the second when Nicholas Paine walked and Kyle Graham brought him home making the game one-all.
Although New South Wales added an additional run to their scoreline in the third, Queensland blew their lead out to 6-2 by the end of the 5th. In an attempt to continue their win streak New South Wales added three runs with hits from Nick Dimmers, Michael Vine and Jacob Younis. However New South Wales were not able to regain the lead and fell to Queensland 6-5 in the 7th, placing both Queensland and New South Wales on equal points in the standings. The two teams will play each other again today which is an important game in deciding who may get to proceed directly to the championship game on Saturday.
Markus Dymalla from the Queensland Bandits also had the hit of the day, with a homerun and two RBI’s. Walking up to the plate a team mate told him to ‘hit the ball out of the park’ and first pitch he did exactly that.
The second round robin begins today with Queensland and New South Wales tied with 6 points, Victoria and Western Australia tied with 4 and South Australia sitting in 5th position.
For more game updates visit the event page at baseball.com.au or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
The National Under 25 Championships began yesterday at Trinity Beach in Cairns. Mr. Michael Trout MP for Barron River officially opened the Championships as well as the Geoff Roneberg Field, which was recently upgraded through a state government ‘Get Playing’ grant.
The Championship will run until the 4th of October and features teams from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. All teams will play double round robin playing each opponent twice in 4 and a half days. After both round robins the first place team will automatically qualify for the championship game, the other four teams will play for positions in both the championship and bronze medal games.
Although the day saw rain, the first five games were completed with New South Wales and Western Australia winning both of their games.
Bats were hot with a grandslam and a three run home run, as well as a triple and countless doubles. James Vergos from the New South Wales Blue Sox sent one flying to left field scoring four runs against the South Australia Bite team in the top of the 3rd inning. Jake Webster also hit a triple with two RBI’s during the same game. In the Western Australia Heat vs South Australia game Adam Millson also homered to left field, scoring three runs in the second.
Day two of the first round robin will continue today, for more game updates visit the event page at baseball.com.au or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.