Springvale enjoys a flying win

By Gavin Staindl
PLAYERS flew back from all directions on Sunday to help Springvale record its sixth win of the season, a 5-4 win over St Kilda at Wearne Reserve.
Melbourne Aces starter Brad Hertzler flew in from Adelaide where the previous night he had sustained a belting at the hands of the Adelaide Bite batters in the opening of the Australian Baseball League.
Hertzler pitched five innings for the Aces, then threw the opening three innings the following day for the Division Two Lions.
Tim Hanson and Scott Baillie flew back early from the Masters games on the Gold Coast to compete against St Kilda and, despite throwing on Tuesday, Bailie threw seven more innings on Sunday in relief of Hertzler.
Australian representative Shae Lillywhite was also called up from the women’s Division One team for the third time this season.
Despite these inclusions Springvale remained understaffed.
The Lions were once again without Rob Hogan and Rob Novotny who stayed on the Gold Coast while big-hitter Lucas Price was a no-show as he began his one-month tour of Italy. To make matters worse, Miles Barnden injured his hamstring midway through the game that will see him miss at least two weeks.
Despite the unsettled line-up, Springvale responded to the 9-6 loss to Berwick on Thursday by jumping out to an early 3-1 lead against St Kilda.
Two runs from Bailie’s pitching levelled the scores midway through the match before a mini-Lions break-away led by Hertzler and Ben Bartlett RBI singles gave the home team enough runs for the win.
“Our stocks aren’t as strong as we would like them to be,” Bartlett said. “We’re not spring chickens, our youngest player off the top of my head is Glen Richards at 26 but that does mean we’re running around with more experience. As long as we can stave off niggling injuries we’ll continue to be around the mark,” he said.
Despite beating St Kilda, the Lions this week dropped to fourth as a result of the upset loss to Berwick but they are expecting a comfortable home game against Port Melbourne this Sunday.
In Division One of the women’s league, the Springvale Lions registered a 4-3 victory over Doncaster without recording a hit for the day.
Five walks in the second inning gifted the Lions with four runs despite no player managing a hit.
When rain set in at the end of the third inning, the Lions were fortunately ahead leaving the Dragon’s with their first loss of the season.
The win will give hope to the Springvale women who were decisively beaten by Doncaster in their meeting earlier in the season. The Springvale Puma’s had their game against Geelong called off because of poor weather.