Springvale sinks in sixth

By Stuart Teather
IT TOOK one innings — the sixth — to sink Springvale’s division three men’s State League baseball side on Sunday in its top-of-the-table clash with Berwick City; but it was no ordinary innings.
After Mark Anderton clocked up a run in the third, capitalising on an opposition fielding error, the side was cruising with a 1-0 lead midway through the game.
But as the sixth innings came about, Springvale’s fielders seemed to catch a serious case of the fielding jitters.
Berwick’s batters poked the ball around the ground and time and time again the Springvale fielders fumbled the ball, allowing the Cougars to grab bases.
With bases loaded, every fielding mistake cost the Lions a run, and Berwick made the most of the comedy of errors running home seven batters in the one frame.
By the seventh innings, the game was effectively over, with Springvale conceding one more run before the end.
It was a tough day on the hill for Myles Barnden, who assumed pitching duties in place of Glen Richards, as Richards was resting his arm before playing for Australia against Chinese Taipei during the week.
According to coach Ben Bartlett, Barnden threw well but had little support from his team-mates.
“He threw quite well, they got a few hits but we didn’t exactly help him out in the field,” he said.
“We just had a really poor day.
“We’ve got a fair bit to work on but we’re not too concerned at this stage. If we’re solid in the field, we just need to rack up a few hits and we can match it with them any day.”
The mid-week game against bottom side Footscray was a different story; the Lions mauled them 19-1 in a game that more closely followed the script.
The women’s division one side went one step closer to an unbeaten season with a 7-1 win over bottom side Werribee.
Springvale did the damage in the first two innings when piling on all seven runs, while Werribee posted its only score for the game in the first.
The Big Cats went into the clash without two of their stars — big hitter Shae Lillywhite and star pitcher Simone Wearne were in Hong Kong for a tournament with the Australian Hearts.
Springvale’s pitching stocks were further depleted with Cat Rowe still on the sidelines with a broken arm, so Vic Brown and Ella Holien maintained pitching duties for the game.
Coach Mick Wearne said his side stood up in the field.
“We played some pretty good defence — our pitching was good, our hitting wasn’t fantastic, they have a pretty good pitcher there though,” he said.
This weekend the men stay at home to Williamstown on Sunday, and the women hit the road to take on Malvern.