Waverley Baseball Club

On behalf of the Waverley Wildcat Little League team I would like to take this opportunity to thank all that attended the first fundraiser. It was great to see this function bring in some of our senior players from Waverley to support such a great cause. A few special mentions need to be made.

Firstly we must thank the Club for allowing us to hold such an event, which I must say was a huge success.

Secondly Mr Music Phil Dale for organising the 2 piece band for the night, also the supervision of the jukebox which supplied the correct genre of music to the many feet that tripped the light fantastic on the dance floor.

John Monkhouse for the supply of refreshments, which were served up by some very busy people behind the bar namely, Brad, Mike, Julie, & Chipper. Also very special thanks to the kitchen, Suzanne & Haley for co-ordinating all the food and assisted by Courtney, Jess, Lucy & Matt for the delivery.

And lastly big thanks go to Sue Aslett for all the work in co-ordinating such an event, great job Sue.

I along with many others look forward to the Trivia night which is also to raise the much needed funds for the Little League Team. This will also be held in the main clubrooms on the 31st May where we will have various items up for auction including specialist coaching sessions & memorabilia with heaps of other prizes, once again I thank you for your attendance.

Regards,

Richard SOD Mason.

This game had all the ingredients of a first class top level tournament match. We starts as the home team with Ryan Dale in his brief but effective innings. With 18 pitches they only managed 1 run after 2 doubles to left field. Matthew Homfray relieved Ryan to keep South East scoreless for his 18 pitches. Jordan Ley put in a great performance in 3.1 innings facing 14 batters for 13 balls and 32 strikes. Jordan Eustace did a great job pitching for the opposition keeping our very powerful batting line up to only 1 run in 3 1/2 innings, leaving the score line at Waverley 4 South East 7 at bottom half of the 6th innings.

As the Wildcat faithful now know, luck had nothing to do with this sweet victory. It was the grit and determination of the extraordinarily talented group of fine individuals pulling together as a team to achieve the desired outcome. Let me first set the scene. Ryan steps up to the plate and puts a bomb out of the park over centerfield to start the ball rolling. Fraser takes a walk as does Trenton and Jordan with a wild pitch bringing Fraser home and moving Trenton to third and Jordan to second. Ben gets up to bat and takes a pitch to the arm to load the bases (winning run is on 2) and bring his mate Matt to the plate. At this stage we have 2 out, Matt is at the plate having already struck out twice during this game and put out at 1st. Low and behold he bashes the first pitch he sees past left field for a double to score the two runs for the Wildcats win.

I must make mention that Trenton was one of the 2 guys that made the step up into this team, and showed that both Jack and himself rightfully deserved their place amongst these other first class Waverley Juniors. When Trenton came out to pitch and told him that he should enjoy the moment and understand that he has the best defensive fielding side put together behind him.

Starting on the mound was Mr 19, but this time we let go of the restraints. Ryan pitched 50 strikes and 19 balls across 4 innings giving up only 4 hits for 3 unearned runs, 4Ks and 1 BB. Backing up on the mound was Daniel Beattie with 9 strikes and 5 balls facing 3 batters for 3Ks. Harking back to game 1, this was the bigger picture that I was talking about. If need we still had guns in pitching tank like Jordan and Sam.

Great pitching deserves to be backed up by great batting, and this is just what these very talented players did. With three massive home runs (2 to Fraser & 1 Andrew) to put this game out of the reach of any opposition - this display had to be seen to be believed. The defensive line up also deserves all the accolades because without tight defence the game can easily get away - fantastic effort guys.

In summarising, this tournament showed that hard work, dedication to training coupled with discipline and attitude will always finish first. It also showed the pride and love for the "W" on the cap and the "Wildcats" on the playing top means to all these fabulous young level headed ball players. These will hopefully be the champions of the future for the Waverley Baseball Club.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank a couple of very special people - Michael Geduld, Sue Aslett, and Karen Mason. My job was made easier with their strong support and quick thinking to assist with player substitutions, team managing and scoring. What people say about Waverley is true - we are a great Club and we are a great team and this is something to be very proud of. Now bring on the Nationals.

The Waverley Wildcats have won the inaugural Victorian Little League Championships at Cheltenham over the weekend.

The Wildcats went through the championship undefeated and won the final 13-3 against the Eastern Sluggers. Both teams scored in the first innings before Waverley scored again in the second and third innings to take an 8-1 lead. The sluggers hit back to score two runs in the fourth but couldn’t keep the momentum going as the Wildcats scored to put the game out of reach.

It was a tough battle from both teams and the baseball across the championships was outstanding.

In the playoff for third and fourth spot South East defeated the Melbourne West Giants 21-4. The Giants were in contention for the top two going into the last day but lost a tight game to the Sluggers and were worn down by a persistent South East team in the playoff.

In this the inaugural State Championship, Baseball Victoria was pleased to announce the first ever Little League Allstar team. In announcing the team, Barry Fisher, Chairman Junior League said that this selection was been made by the team managers and based on the combination of the following criteria:

Teamwork Sportsmanship/Attitude Offensive skills / Defensive skills / Baseball “smarts

Congratulations go to –

Outfielders - Steven Bookluck Adrian Fittock Adam Love

Infielders - Keegan Davies Kai Ishikawa Brandon Stenhouse Sean Woolums

Catcher - James Edwards

Pitchers - Ryan Dale Jordan Ley

Coach - Richard Mason

Congratulations to all the participants. It was a great standard of baseball and played in great spirit all weekend. We wish the Waverley Wildcats the best of luck at the National Little League Championships.

The Waverley Baseball Club congratulates the players selected to represent our "zone" in Victorian Little (Major) League baseball for 2008, as follows:

Coach - Richard Mason
Assistant Coach - Michael Geduld
Team Manager - Sue Aslett

If you require any further information, please contact head coach Richard Mason via e-mail: masons4@bigpond.net.au or telephone 9759 6235.

As the season draws closer and closer and the start of Little League in

Australia

tags along for the ride, I thought it might be a good time to let everyone know about the Little League launch in September. ABF and Australian Little League will be launching the start of this years Little League season with a gala event held in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Dates and venues are below:

Brisbane - Wednesday 19th September
Where: Redlands Baseball Club
Duncan Rd Sheldon
Start time 6.30pm

Sydney – Friday 21st September
Where: BOP Softball Stadium
Eastern Rd Rooty Hill
Start Time 6.30pm

Melbourne – Sunday 23rd September
Where: Waverly Baseball Club
Napier Park, Glen Waverly
Start Time 12.30pm

We are also lucky enough to have the CEO of Little League International, Mr Stephen Keener and Vice President Mr Pat Wilson attending each event. So if you are a Little Leaguer come on out and get a taste of what is in store for you this season. Even if you are not a Little League player, come out and show your support to our future stars and I guarantee you’ll be entertained.