The 2018 Under 14 State Winter Championships got under way today in Mildura. Whilst a little chilly in the morning it turned out to be a fantastic day weather-wise and the fields looked excellent.
The teams walked out onto Diamond 1 for the Opening Ceremony and stood for the national anthem after an address from President of the Sunraysia Baseball League, Nick Carroll.
Diamond 1 kicked off at 9:00am with a hit-fest curtesy of Diamond Valley. On the back of a strong start from Corey Poynter, DV piled on 5, 4, 4 and then 5 more runs onto a sturdy Latrobe Valley team that battled hard but ultimately went down, 15 – 0.
Sunraysia and City West went head to head on Diamond 2 and it was Sunraysia that dominated the offense. Jackson Malycha and Kolby Wakefield combined for the home association to keep City West scoreless, winning 16 – 0.
The Allies, a combination of Geelong, Ringwood and Bendigo players, took on Ringwood on Diamond 3 and fell behind after the second inning. However, the rag-tag team were able to rally late in the game and defeat a strong Ringwood outfit, 5 – 4.
In round 2, which took off at 11:15am, Finley Ronalds-Greatbatch took the mound for Ringwood against Sunraysia. His efforts kept the Sunraysia bats quiet and he managed to earn himself a win to the tune of 7 – 0.
Over on diamond 2 the Allies, who were proving to be a force to be reckoned with, went up against Latrobe Valley. Latrobe went through 4 different pitchers but couldn’t find a way to beat the rolling Allies, going down to the combination team 15 – 2.
City West’s second contest of the day was against Diamond Valley and although they put a couple of runs on the board it proved to be another tough game. Diamond Valley scored hit well in each innings to take the win, 13 – 2.
Shaping up to be the match of the day, Diamond Valley played the Allies on diamond 1 at 1:45pm. Both teams had had significant wins over the course of the day and were vying for top spot. After a hard fought game, it was the Allies who consistently plated runs and kept Diamond Valley to a single score, taking the win 5 – 1.
On diamond 2, Ringwood beat City West by a large margin (17 – 2), which propelled them into equal first place. Josh Kellock and Harrison Elustondo were very effective on the mound for Ringwood and managed to keep City West to only 2 runs.
The final game for the day was a high scoring affair, with Sunraysia taking on Latrobe Valley on diamond 3. Both teams hit the ball well but ultimately it was Sunraysia who came away with the win with a score of 14 – 8.
Tomorrow the teams will play those that they haven’t played yet to establish a ladder that will determine which ones play off for first and second and third and fourth. Currently, the Allies sit atop the standings whilst Diamond Valley and Ringwood are in second place on equal points.
RUBBISH
Please remember to keep the ballpark clean and assist our host clubs in Mildura by placing all your rubbish in the bins provided around the grounds.
ISCORE VOLUNTEERS
Baseball Victoria would like to invite anyone interested in learning the iScore system to register their interest with a member of the BV team tomorrow (Sunday 22nd July), either for this weekend or the weekend of the 28th July.
TEAM PHOTOS
Any teams interested in team photos should get in touch with either Kelsey Quinn or Lisa Mclellan from Baseball Victoria.
1 - Allies
Equal 2 - Diamond Valley
Ringwood
4 - Sunraysia
5 - City West
6 - Latrobe Valley