The Waverley Baseball Club was the winner on Saturday 15^th March as the red hot Pythons, winners of 8 of their previous 10 games took on Minor Premiers Rustlers in the 2007-2008 U/12 Waverley Domestic Grand Final.

Rustler Curtis De Witt got the first hit of the game with a triple to centre field followed by an RBI single by Sam Monkhouse to take an early 1-0 lead.  Corey MacKenzie followed with a single and the Rustlers eventually had runners on 2^nd and 3^rd base and 1 out.  Python starting pitcher Eric Stanley then found his pitching rhythm and put on a pitching show striking out the next 5 Rustler batters by dominating the outer 1/3 portion of home plate and only allowing the 1 Rustler run in his 2 innings of pitching.

To counter the hard throwing pitcher Eric Stanley, the Rustlers started a slower control pitcher in Josh Meyers whose sinking fastball on the out portion of the plate countered with a harder thrown inside fastball kept the Python batters off balance. Josh pitch 2 perfect innings of baseball. Josh ended up with 2 strike outs and created 4 defensive infield pop flies that were caught for outs.

Taking the game ball in the top of the 3^rd inning was Rustler Corey MacKenzie who followed Josh Meyers in mixing his fastball speed and locations to keep the Pythons scoreless in their top of the 3^rd inning and 4^th innings allowing only one base hit to Pythons Jack McGraw in the 3^rd inning.

The Pythons countered with Noah Ehrman taking the mound for their defensive 3^rd inning.  After Rustlers Jordan Dutton struck out (6 Ks in a row for the Python pitchers!) for the first out of the inning, Rustler Christopher Stefancik broke the Championship game wide open with an impromptu and unexpected 2 strike bunt base hit down the 3^rd base line that caught the Pythons (and for that matter all who were watching!) by surprise. The fielded bunt ball was compounded with a throwing error into right field that had Christopher racing around to 3^rd base. 

Rustler Curtis De Witt (‘Mr. March’ for his 5 RBIs in the semi and GF game combined) slapped a ball to the right side of the infield to score Chris from 3^rd.  With 2 outs and a 2 run lead, the heart of Rustlers batting order collectively nicknamed the ‘Bash Brothers’ all season went to work. Sam Monkhouse singled to centre, Corey MacKenzie hit an RBI triple to left field, followed by an RBI single to Scott Cooling creating a 4-0 Rustler lead that was extended to a 5 run lead after 4 innings of play.

Rustler Sam Monkhouse then took the mound in the 5^th inning giving up a single to Python Mark Sahhar giving hope to the Pythons for a big rally.  However on the next pitch, Mark Sahhar was thrown out trying to steal 2^nd base by Rustler catcher Christopher Stefancik and the momentum was now truly with the Rustlers. 

Sam dominated the Pythons by striking out last 4 Python batters of the game to earn his 2^nd Career Post Season Save as the Rustlers and Pythons raised their hands as one for a high standard competitive Championship game that featured a combined total of 20 strikeouts from a possible 33 outs and the Rustlers earning the Waverley Little League Pennant for 2007-2008.

Thank you to the parents and many people who turned up to assist with the ground set up and support both teams on the day. A special thanks to Craig Reval for umpiring the game and most importantly, thank you to the players from both teams who competed with great spirit in an entertaining game. Both teams should be very proud of their efforts in making the grand final in a very competitive season of Little League Baseball. 

WP: Rustler Josh Meyers (1-0)
Save: Rustler Sam Monkhouse (2)

For U12 LITTLE LEAGUE
2007/08 FIXTURE
Click here!

ADDERS WIN U12 DOMESTIC LEAGUE FINAL FOR 2006/07

Adders: 5 innings; 23 at bats; 6 hits; 1 run (Hits: Matthew Homfray 2, Karan Khusu 2, Max Dicker & William Barbis 1)
Pythons: 5 innings; 16 at bats; 0 hits; 0 runs