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28th July, 2010

 

AAA World Championships

Central Stadium

Thunder Bay

Canada

 

Australia VS Italy 

	Inn / Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
V	Italy	0	1	0	0	3	0	0					4	5	5
H	Australia	0	0	1	6	2	2	3					14	17	0

 

Bat	Australia	Pos	AB	Hits	RBIs	Walks	Sacs	Stolen Bases	Runs Scored
1	A. Campbell	DH	5	3	1	0	0	0	1
2	J. Younis	2B	5	3	2	0	0	1	1
3	J. McDonald	3B	5	1	1	0	0	0	1
4	R. Battaglia	C	5	1	1	0	0	0	1
5	L. Parish	1B	4	2	1	0	0	0	3
6	J. White	RF	4	1	0	1	0	1	1
7	S. Cone	CF	4	1	1	1	0	1	2
8	S. Morris	LF	4	2	2	0	0	0	1
9	J. Sheldon-Collins	SS	4	3	3	0	0	0	3

 

Pitchers

Australia	Innings Pitched	Ks	Hits	Walks	Runs	Earned Runs
D. McGrath	5	6	4	5	4	4
M. Corbitt	2	2	1	2	0	0

 

Italy led off the scoring in the game with a solo shot home run in the 2^nd innings. They then had runners on 1^st and 2^nd with none out but some good pitching from McGrath, and some great defence, particularly by catcher Battaglia, got us out of a threatening situation.

 

In the bottom of the 3^rd we tied the game up at 1 - 1with hits from  Morris, Campbell and Younis although disappointingly we ran out ourselves out of the innings losing two runners through poor baserunning options.

 

Then in the bottom of the 4^th we broke the game open with hits to Parish, Cone, Morris, Sheldon-Collins and Younis that saw us score six runs and take the lead for the first time in the game at 7 - 1.

 

Italy hit back straight away in the 5th with three runs, including a two run home run, and the scoreline was now 7 - 4.

 

Then in the bottom of the 5^th, Parish got on base through an error, Cone walked and they were both driven in by a Sheldon-Collins double to take our lead out to 9 - 4.

 

McGrath came out of the game after five innings. He had pitched well, just getting a little tired in his last innings. He was replaced by Corbitt, making his national team debut as a pitcher. He started the 6^th innings nervously and loaded the bases with none out but came back terrificly well to get himself out of the innings and keep the Italians scoreless. 

We added a further two runs in the bottom of the 6^th when Younis got his third hit of the game and was scored by a Parish triple, who in turn scored on an error and we were now up 11 – 4.

 

Corbitt retired the Italians quickly in the 7^th, and then a single to Sheldon-Collins and doubles to Campbell, McDonald and Battaglia scored three runs making the score 14 – 4 and the game was ended by the mercy rule

 

For the third game in a row our offence had been very strong with Campbell, Younis and Sheldon-Collins standing out, and every player in the starting lineup getting at least one hit and scoring at least one run. But the most pleasing aspect about today’s win was that we played errorless baseball for the first time.

 

This game was the final one in the preliminary round and the win saw us placed 3^rd in our pool of six teams. That means we now play the team who came second in the other pool in our quarter final.

 

The other pool by the way has gone crazy. Korea was responsible for a bit of an upset yesterday by beating the Cubans, and it looked likely that three teams would be tied for first in their pool. BUT, in an even bigger upset this afternoon, Netherlands beat Cuba in extra innings. Their finishing order is not finalised yet as Canada still has to play Czech Republic tonight but if Canada win as expected, it would mean that Canada finishes 1^st, Korea 2^nd, Netherlands 3^rd and Cuba 4^th.

 

So that means the probable opponent for our quarter final in two days time is Korea. Certainly a tough assignment but as we spoke about after today’s game, we have to beat everybody from now on anyway, so the message from our team is   BRING    IT    ON !!!

 

By the way, one of the other quarter finals is between USA and Cuba, so one of them will be out of the competition after Friday.