16 NOV 2008
WAVERLEY  3
WON v
Essendon  2

** NOTE: BEFORE READING OUR GAME REPORTS, YOU SHOULD READ THIS

Above: Two good teams acknowledge each other.  Left: 'Rusty' Russell launches his decisive triple          Pictures courtesy of Richard 'SOD' Mason

For baseball fanatics like us, it just doesn’t get much better than this! We certainly backed the ‘Trifecta’ this weekend with good Spring weather, an exciting atmosphere generated by a large audience and, best of all, some tremendous “cut and thrust” baseball. The conditions at Napier Park were comfortably warm, just so long as you didn’t venture outside the clubrooms where a very cold wind was not nearly so hospitable.

A large contingent of fans would arrive to support both teams for the long-awaited clash between the undefeated league leaders from Essendon and the highly rated home-standing Waverley Wildcats who are hoping to challenge the “big dogs” this season. The ‘Waverley Nation’ would be close to full strength while the travelling band of Bombers’ supporters would appear to have swelled as a consequence of their lofty expectations this season. Even renowned baseball tragic Allan ‘The Voice’ Ricketts joined us, travelling all the way from Geelong for the big occasion!

As I will try to describe, the action on the main diamond at Napier Park would not disappoint anyone in terms of the contest and the quality of the baseball action on display. It was one of those occasions when results could not entirely dampen the spirits of either support crew because, in the bigger picture, the sport of baseball in Victoria was the huge winner on this day.

The visiting Essendon team gave us an early glimpse of their considerable depth of muscle by romping away to a big 12-6 win in a keenly contested Reserves game. The younger Waverley team showed plenty of promise and was gallant until the game got away from them towards the end. The more seasoned men from the north showed our lads a yardstick for them to aspire to. Even at this early stage of the 2008/09 season the Essendon Bombers would appear to have a mortgage on the BV Division One Club Championship.

With most of the Waverley supporters still discussing the yet undetermined outcome of the midweek game against Geelong, the scene had been set for a battle of the titans in the FIRSTS. While both clubs would arrive boasting batting lineups stacked with talent and power, there was always a feeling that the “finals like atmosphere” would create the type of tension that is usually dictated by pitching and defence… and so it would prove.

At Essendon it is a rare thing for any team to rattle the experienced cage of their pitching ace Casey Jones, while at Waverley the increasingly impressive lefty duo of young pros Adam Blackley and Donovon Hendricks is becoming very formidable. On this occasion the Wildcats were to grab an early advantage in the bottom of the second inning when a leadoff walk and three successive hits resulted in two runs scored. This inning threatened to get much larger for Waverley until we surrendered an out and base runner at second via a rarely successful pickoff move.

The Bombers clawed back in the top of the fourth to plate a leadoff walk via a hit, a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly delivered by Josh Licence. This was the type of “manufactured run” that Essendon needed to crack the vice-like grip of Adam ‘Blyleven’ Blackley who rose to the challenge in magnificent style with an outstanding display of starting pitching. Blackley demonstrated the type of poise needed to shut down such a dangerous batting linup while pitching carefully to most batters and, importantly, keeping the ball inside the yard. He scattered four hits over six strong innings, while striking out five, to record a victory of very significant proportions.

After throwing 93 quality pitches it was time for Adam to pass the pill to his bullpen partner Donavon ‘Drysdale’ Hendricks who also thrived in the pressure-cooker situation with his increasing confidence this season. Of course, he too needed to avoid the fat part of the plate and he did this splendidly apart from one “mistake pitch” that Bomber Tim Sullivan dispatched over left-centre for a game-tying solo homer in the seventh. In past years a younger Donnie Hendricks may have felt the internal pressure affecting his performance, but not these days… he re-grouped and re-focussed with tremendous concentration to close out the game. He earned himself a really impressive three-inning save.

The dramatic nature of this red-hot contest probably deserved a grandstand finish, even though the collective ‘Waverley Nation’ had just seen their ascendancy in the game disappear in the top of the seventh. However, it didn’t take long for the mood in the home clubhouse to rise again when our recent triple-crown slugger Andrew ‘Rusty’ Russell launched a decisive leadoff triple in the bottom half of the seventh. This was the catalyst for him to score the go-ahead and game winning run on Jarrod ‘Hammer’ Hodges RBI ground out. In smashing that triple Andrew might have imagined that he was wrapping his bat around the head of the individual(s) who stole his car and it contents last week apparently for little other purpose than vandalism… what a shame we have people like this to somewhat tarnish an otherwise great society like Melbourne!

Backing up the brilliance of our pitchers in this game was an evenly spread offence that worked hard to deliver eleven hits against the blokes from Boeing Reserve. While it may not be fair to single out specific players after a game like this it was most pleasing to note that, when the going got toughest, the heart of our batting order definitely did not go missing. I’ve already mentioned ‘Rusty’ and ‘Hodgo’ for their exploits in the seventh, but each would be further rewarded for their efforts with two hits in this game. They were joined with two knocks by Anthony ‘A-Rod’ Reinke who has bounced back hard from a relatively quiet season last year to become a consistent force in our lineup again this year.

I’m guessing that some readers who were at the game would be starting to think that I was going to overlook one fellow who also deserves a special mention. Ah yes, it was a red letter day for the HENDRICKS family at Waverley who are proud to boast not one, but two young players in Waverley’s FIRSTS team this year. I have already outlined the contribution of ace pitcher Donavon who collected a save but I’m sure that he would be happy to share the spotlight on this occasion with his not-so-little brother Joshua. I’m not sure if he has turned 17yo yet, but this lack of experience didn’t stop ‘Big Papi’ from emulating his Red Sox namesake by delivering the HUGE two-strike, two RBI single to left field that broke open the second inning of this game. It should give the youngster valuable confidence to know that he can already be a major factor in such a big game… good on you Josh!

It would be natural for the Essendon team to feel slightly deflated after taking their first loss for the season, but they should not take long to realise that it is only one small battle in what should be a season-long war between the top teams in this competition. One thing we will not be overlooking at Waverley is the fact that the Essendon Bombers will remain between us and our prospects for ultimate success at the pointy end of this season… they will not be going away! 
And, they should also take their share of the plaudits for being part of such an enthralling contest. There was not much in it folks!!

Although we would not need much more, there was further uplifting news for the ‘Waverley Nation’ coming via a few familiar faces in the clubhouse. Our reigning Club Champion pitcher Brett Flemming is walking and no longer hobbling as his knee rehabilitation continues to go ahead of schedule. Young star Taylor McEvoy is still nursing his arm in a sling following successful shoulder surgery and, while we will not see him playing for a good while yet, the smile is returning to his face. Our 2007 Premiership short stop whiz and Minnesota Twins professional Jimmy Beresford also appears to be getting his competitive juices flowing and I reckon that he is not far away from pulling on a Wildcats uniform this season.

By far the best news for the ‘Waverley Nation’ is the fact that we have proven to ourselves quite clearly that we can compete with anyone in this competition and this should provide the impetus for us to return to the finals action following a most disappointing 2007/08. It will be nice to enjoy the afterglow of a terrific win, but we must soon turn our full attention to a pair of upcoming battles away at Bonbeach. The first of these is on Sunday 23 November at 3:30pm, followed by another twilight meeting at the same venue on Thursday night 27 Nov at 6:00pm. I can’t wait!

GO WILDCATS!

What the….??! Well, I’d like to tell you that the Wildcats came away from Melbourne Ballpark with a magnificent victory, or even just a victory, but I’m just not sure what the wash-up from this incomplete game might be? Certainly Waverley was leading 1-0 at the end of the last completed inning and this might be the ultimate outcome from this game. But, equally, the Geelong Baycats had tied the game in the top half of the fifth and had bases loaded with two out when time was called just after the 11:00pm curfew.

Most people living in Melbourne would have been well aware of the thunder storm that loomed from the west around dusk and moved its way eastward through the night. The rain had just passed through the Altona area around the time we arrived at Melbourne Ballpark and it had virtually cleared by the time our nightcap game against the Baycats got underway. In fact it came somewhat out of the blue, OK murky grey, when apparently one of the vigilant umpires noticed a flash of lightning away in the distant sky.

A lengthy delay followed as, once again unseen by me, another flash kept the players off the field for what seemed like hours but probably amounted to about 25 minutes according to someone who was keeping track of the time. The smaller than usual gathering of the ‘Waverley Nation’ in the grandstand tried to amuse itself with various baseball discussions while staring at a blank sky and an eerie looking abandoned baseball diamond. We were wondering at the time if the game would even re-start.

One notable wag in ‘The Nation’ with a Scottish accent… yes, Jimmy Russell… wasn’t too impressed with the notion of lightning halting the game when he suggested that there was nothing sinister coming from the sky. Instead, Jimmy was prepared to bet that the “lightning” was actually some hard-working guy in Hoppers Crossing doing a bit of moonlight welding in his garage! To be quite honest the scant presence of lightning didn’t seem to offer much of a threat to the game, but I suppose you cannot fault anyone for taking a conservative approach with such things.

Before this our Waverley Wildcats would have felt a chill of déjà vu when Geelong lefty Elliot Biddle started the game like a typhoon with successive strike outs to open the game and his final tally of five from his four innings would help to keep our offence pretty silent. We didn’t want to contemplate another overdose of the twelve K’s we suffered at Geelong just recently. The stalemate continued until our sterling catcher Grant ‘Maurer’ Karlsen lined a leadoff single in the fourth. His base-running replacement under the speed-up rule was the swift Ian ‘Ichiro’ Geduld who used his speed to telling effect with a couple of stolen bases that moved him to third base. Our game opening run eventually scored when Geduld crossed the plate on Glenn Mascoll’s ground out.

Putting up the zeros on the Geelong half of the line score was our much underrated right hander ‘Tommy John’ Rynberk who was close to his best pitching form on this occasion after getting a bit more work this season. In fact, Tommy was quite brilliant while sailing through four innings until the lengthy delay cut short his terrific effort. In his customary style Tom used his variety to befuddle the Baycats batters and most of the timber laid on his pitches was mistimed rather than scalded. Only in the first inning did Geelong threaten with a runner left on third following a poked floater that found the chalk of the right field line. Rynberk struck out four and faced just 16 hitters in a splendid performance for the Wildcats.

After the major delay he handed the ball to his battery mate Grant Karlsen who was to suffer a similar fate as Rynberk in his first inning when Geelong’s leadoff batter repeated the precision of Roger Federer with a deftly floated shot that also touched down within millimeters of the first base line in shallow right field for a telling double. A fielder’s choice and an infield hit saw some Geelong “small ball” rewarded with the game tying run and a subsequent walk left the bags loaded with two out when the clock struck eleven and the baseball turned into a pumpkin!

A fair bit of discussion followed on the diamond and also in the ballpark foyer as some reached for rule books and others speculated about what the outcome of the game might be. The truth of the matter is that nobody was entirely sure and, I guess, we will have to await a pennant committee ruling. What you can take as a “given” is that Waverley have not lost the game at this stage and we may even be awarded a 1-0 win. Worst case scenario for us is that the game may need to be replayed, or re-started where it was interrupted, you’ll just have to wait patiently along with me to find out!

GO WILDCATS!

2006/07
BASEBALL VICTORIA
DIVISION ONE
CHAMPIONSHIP
COMES HOME
TO WAVERLEY

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