The Churchill Braves have started their defence of the premiership strongly with a 9-2 win over the Traralgon Redsox.
With the very capable starter Matt Prior on the hill, the Braves started a little slowly with bats but held their own in the field.
A hit and a walk to Traralgon set up Owen Godenzi with a big double hit to centre right field bought in two runs to put the Redsox on the board and give them the lead.
The lower order of Churchill’s batting lineup took on the pitching of Brad Adams and started putting the hits together and driving in runs on the top of a couple of uncharacteristic errors from the Redsox defence.
With Prior finding his groove and the Braves giving up nothing in defence, the Redsox could not trouble the scoreboard for the remainder of the game.
The Braves were well served with Prior, Pinkster and Bellerby among the best, whilst for the Redsox, Adams, Spiteri and Goodman stood up.
B grade
The B grade game was a close affair with the Redsox coming out of the blocks quickly putting four runs on the board over the first three innings.
The Churchill bats finally made some inroads to bridge the gap to 4-2 before the Redsox were able to bring across another three in a couple more innings.
Churchill was not about to let the game blowout and did not quite time their charge as they only managed to scramble four more runs over the last two digs to go down 7-6.
C grade
The Churchill C grade saw some positive signs with five players never having played the game before by scoring six runs against the defending champions Traralgon Redsox.
With such an inexperienced side taking the field, the Braves showed some encouraging signs and will only get better with more games under their belts.
Dodgers dominate at Toners Lane
Moe/Newborough came well prepared for the game at Toners Lane against Morwell, jumping up with the bat scoring consistently from the start of the match against the pitching of Martin Kennedy and Lachlan Banks.
Moe scored two, four, and two runs in the first three innings, holding Morwell scoreless, and rarely getting a runner on base thanks to the excellent pitching of Tony Luke and his support fielding.
Morwell was able to rally somewhat later in the game to score two runs, however the Dodgers’ consistency with the blade throughout the match from top to bottom of their order saw their final score rocket to 18 when time was called on the match.
B grade
A strong pitching dual between the Dodgers veteran Duane Baker and Morwell’s Mark Smith saw few hits being recorded in the early part of the game, with the score being tied at two-all after four innings.
However, from there the Dodgers were able to move forward with some strong batting which, was equally supported by their fielding to record a solid 9 – 2 victory.
C grade
The Cougars were far more competitive at this level with a great game ensuing through the afternoon.
It was to be the Dodgers come out of top again, with a 15 to 11 result.
This Sunday sees Sale get its season underway against Traralgon at Kevin Lythgo Park, while the Dodgers play the Braves at Burrage in Newborough.
Morwell has the bye.
