Glen brings Springy home- Glen Richards hit his straps for Springvale on Sunday, pitching seve

By Stuart Teather
GLEN Richards was the star of the day as Springvale cruised to another State League Division Three victory on Sunday, this time against St Kilda.
Richards had his best game since returning from Claxton Shield duties with Victoria, pitching seven innings and only conceding two runs.
He backed up his efforts with a two-run bomb with the bat to cap off a fantastic day, earning the praise of coach Ben Bartlett.
“Glen had a great day — (he) threw well, hit the ball well,” he said.
Fellow player Mick Wearne went one step further.
“It was probably his best outing for a while,” he said.
Springvale defeated St Kilda 9-3 but Bartlett said he wanted more from his team.
“It was one of those games where it was a bit unfortunate I think, we looked a bit flat,” he said.
“The bats weren’t working that well against the pitching.
“They had a guy, Scott Harris, who had a bit of pace on the ball and it was just that right pace that we were able to hit, but obviously we couldn’t convert that well.
“To Scott’s credit he mixed it up really well, he bamboozled us a little bit.”
Still, Bartlett singled out Matt Green along with Richards as the day’s standouts, with Green contributing two hits.
The Lions are now three games clear on top of the ladder with four matches remaining, and Bartlett allowed himself to start thinking about the finals.
“We just need to knuckle down and work on it (batting) a little better, we need to hit the right pitches and coming into finals that’d be something we need to concentrate on getting right.”
The Lions were set to take on bottom side Footscray on Wednesday night, before a top-of-the-table clash against finals rival Berwick on Sunday.
In the two games against Berwick this season, Springvale won the first 18-1, then lost the next 17-7.
The women’s Division One game against Port Melbourne was cancelled on Saturday as the heatwave struck Melbourne, and as a result both teams walked away with a point.
Coach Mick Wearne was frustrated that his side lost another game to inclement weather.
“The season is relatively short as it is, it’s only 16 games, we lost one with rain so we’re down to 14 games, it doesn’t make much of a Division One season really,” he said.
“But you can’t control the weather.”
This Saturday the women’s side travels to Werribee in what should be a comfortable game against the bottom side.