Benny ballers had the pick of the diamond space under the trees. They moved through a range of skill development activities and Indiana Lucas displayed some tremendous hitting while Zach Osborn showed original moves in the field. Ella Stroud was full of determination.

Only one game was played in T-Ball where Phantoms played a combined team made up of players from the Larrikins, White Sox and Green Machine. There were plenty of homeruns and Nick D’Ilio, Eligh and Levi Jacobs, Emily Wiltshire, Safara Niven and Kurt Mackay all batted with great technique. 

Ruby Davies and Kayla Morrissey came up from Benny Ball for the first time and played strongly. Olivia Holt and Maddison Morrissey continued their excellent combination plays. Mack Dickson starred with two superb outs at first base.

Juniors saw the St Lue Blues forfeit to Red Kangaroos. Ninjas faced the Angels in a fairly one sided match. The parents stepped in to fill the gaps through lack of players and stole the top places in the ‘Best Plays’ list. Infield plays were key for both teams and skills were sharp. Bailey Hawes was on fire with the bat, plugging two scorching homeruns to the outfield. Bailey Stroud also batted well but it was the homerun that Ellen Day scored after being walked that had everyone talking. Togan Akers pitched well for the Ninjas with Lochlan Birchall ably guided his team from catcher. Safara Niven made an outstanding stop at short stop in an attempt to halt the runs. Charlie Portlock was all over the ball and worked hard alongside Dan Woods to keep the Angels in the game. Ninjas were too strong winning 11-3. Play of the game went to mum, Kate Rouse, for her spectacular catch at right field.

Phantoms toughed it out against Robyn’s Hoods who were very strong. Matt Adams made a determined run to first base after hitting a great ball to centrefield. Lily Smith showed her natural ability with some impressive catching. Tayissa Lucas, Olivia Holt and Montana Lucas all gave the defence enormous headaches with excellent running bunt plays. There was a wealth of powerful batting from the Phantoms which caused a multitude of strategic problems for the Hoods. Olivia Holt pitched well, tying the opposition in knots. Coach for Robyn’s Hoods, Maddie Date, commented on the sportsmanship of her player Jye Fisher. Hoods were too good in the end taking the game 8–3.

Youth players and Adults battled the full heat of the day. The Youth game had to revert to a 4x4x4 format. That made it doubly hard with players spending long digs in the field. Everyone batted extraordinarily well, mixing it up from full drives to running bunts. Not many pitchers were available and those that stood up to the role did a wonderful job. Bailey, Charlie, Mat and Lachie were strongest on the diamond in the end, managing to put nine runs across the plate. Mel, Dan, Tom and Jye came close with eight runs. Archie, Beau, Maddie and Rachel worked hard for their three runs.

Draw for Saturday, November 22, at Westend Sporting Complex: 

T-ball: Phantoms v Green Machine; White Sox v Lue Larrikins

Juniors: Phantoms v Red Kangaroos; Angels v St Lue Blues; Ninjas v Robyn’s Hoods

Adults: JoDaniels v Mick’s n Match; Trudi’s v Youth