A’S GO DOWN 4 – 2

DINDIANS WIN 13 NIL

The A’s suffered a 4 – 2 loss at the hands of the Wanneroo Giants in what was an exciting game of baseball.  The Giants came out swinging and, with a mixture of hits and errors, jumped to a 3 -2 lead after 2 innings.   It was the same score after 3 when Nathan “Llama” Herbert took to the mound and showed why Benny Mac and Camel were forced to cool their heels in D Grade. Llama controlled the game for the next 5 innings conceding just the one run.  We had our chances with loaded bases on several occasions and a hit count that reached double figures but couldn’t put it on the scoreboard.

The Dindians did it much more comfortably, with the batters getting busy in the 2nd, posting 4 runs.  It may have been more with a few of our guys turning doubles into singles with their base running.  North Coast pitcher Clint Knight ran into trouble with the umpires with 3 balks. Five runs in a dominant 5th innings put the game beyond doubt. The boys had a great final series and whilst there was plenty of talk about their pitching roster, they managed to post 35 runs over the 3 games and deserve their victory. 

State League Finals Wrap Up With Chris King

To get into the finals we had to play a one game elimination against Gosnells.  Wembley has played the elimination game 3 times in recent years and lost each time.  One particularly tough loss was against West Stirling when ABL MVP Ben Moore put on an absolute clinic for the Tribe.  Faced with another elimination game the Wembley faithful were considering everything short of sacrificing a chicken to overcome their back luck.

The batting line-up for the elimination game was Andrew “Big Boy” Johnson, Ben “Ring-a-Ding” King, Josh “Salty” McGee, Travis “Forever Young” Murphy, Reece “Best Pecs” Thompson, Zack “Chief” McMillin, Kieran “Cashie” Chapman and Riley “Spring Chicken” Spring.  The boys came out firing with a HUGE 6 run inning. Everyone contributed as we hit through the line-up.  The lead got Chris “Wolverine” King fired up (yes, Wolverine, it’s going to catch on) and backed up by errorless defence he would go on to throw 8 innings, allowing 4 hits and 2 runs. Reece “Clutch” Thompson caused Gosnells to finally drop their heads when he hosed a Gosnells baserunner for the first out of the last inning.

The game ended 6-2.  The song was LOUD and the boys were pumped to be in semi finals.

In game 1 Melville quickly reminded us why they were the minor premiers by putting up 5 runs in the first.  The Pie Tribe fought back hard with 11 hits for the game, at one point bringing us within 3 runs. Josh McGee couldn’t seem to stay off the basepaths as he recorded 2 hits and 2 walks on the night. Melville would go on to win 10-4.

Game 2 saw the Pie Tribe fight back even harder.  We put on a performance that would have made “The Battered Bastards of Baseball” proud (search on Netflix if you don’t know these guys).  We scratched and clawed and battled to score 5 runs.  Chris King threw 8 innings and held Melville to 3 runs.  Travis Murphy closed the door to end the game 5-4.

Game 3 was not how we wanted things to end.  Daniel Schmidt kept our bats quiet all night and sadly we would go down 9-0.  It was a disappointing loss but credit must go to Melville on the night.

The team that we put together this year was truly impressive.  There are few teams in the history of Australian baseball who could match the quality of our local talent.  Our desire to win and our passion for the game was second to none. Our team was representative of the proud histories of Wembley and West Stirling.  It has been a pleasure to be a part of such a team and I hope that we can play together next year. 

Thank you to everyone who went to the effort of supporting the West Stirling and Wembley Baseball Clubs throughout the season.  Thank you to everyone who read the game reports and thank you to all my great teammates. 

Finally, a huge thank you to Ken McGee for leading us this year and congratulations on an incredible career.