Grand Final
Report To Follow.
Prelim
!!!!! MIRACLE AT MONTY !!!!!
29th Aug 2009 G.M.B.C vs Westgrath 8-7
Well in what you could only be described as a miracle ,the boys from GMBC pulled off one of the greatest comeback in the history of junior baseball !!!
In a game dominated by the opposition our boys looked down and out !! Westgarth outplayed us in the field . on the mound and at the plate !
With good team baseball they got out to a nice lead and looked certain to go through to the grand final next week !! A couple of errors helped Westgarth
establish a 7-1 lead with about 20mins to play !!! It was the last roll of the dice for the Monty boys !!! I'm sure the parents and coaches were thinking
about a sleep in next Saturday !!
We entered the bottom of the 4th with only 1 hit for the game !! which was a running bunt by Mighty " Mitch " Ellis. So things weren't looking good !!
John " the Kong" King lead off with a hit to shortstop to start the inning off ! Thomas " the Tank " Shiels was then drilled in the arm for a hit by pitch batter
Josh " the unit " Ward then smashed a ball to centre . Simon " the big cat" Fitzmaurice was then walked ! Mighty " Mitch " Ellis then hit a ball to there firstbaseman
and in what can only be described as a very poor decision at the home plate Josh slid under the tag only to be called out !!!! One out ! Lewis " the lefty" Thorpe then
hit a bunt ! and in some average base running Simon " the big cat" was chased back to 3rd and given out !! Two out !!!!
Ryan "the elbow" Lea was then walked Some slowing down tactics from Westgarth began to show !!! A hit by pitch ball to the next hitter Matt " the tourist" Morris again
caused some worries for Westgarth !!! Changing the pitcher for the 3rd time in the inning was again slowly down the action !!!! But it didn't help ! Ben " the clutch" Kernick
rips a ball to left field to score 2 more runs !! G.M.B.C are trailing only by 1 run !!! With 2nd and 3rd now occupied and the tying 90 feet from the plate Westgarth decided
to walk John " the Kong" King to load them up !! With bases loaded Thomas " the Tank" Shiels strode to the plate ! already nursing a sore right arm from his last plate appearance
Thomas had a 8 pitch at bat to get ball 4 and tie the game at 7-7 ! What a great example to coolness under pressure !!!! Now with the game tied Josh " the unit" Ward had a free
at bat to try and end the game !!! With the count 1 ball and 2 strikes Wardy did his best Shane Warne and hit a seeing eye bouncing squibber towards 1st base and through
the poor firstmans legs !! game over Monty WINS Monty WINS !!!!!
Wow WHAT A GAME !! I think everybody who was at the game still can't work out how we won ! But that's the beauty of this game no matter what the score is if you never say
die you always have a chance !! Fantastic win boys you guys showed a lot of guts to stick in there and play the game hard in the right spirit !!!
One more game to go we have nothing to lose and so lets go out swinging and see what happens !!!!
Round 9
G.M.B.C vs Knox 12-1
Well what a wonderful way to finish off the season !! In a complete turn around in form from the last week our Monty Boys dominated the game from start to finish !!!!
Lewis " the lefty" Thorpe was at his best ,blowing away the older Knox batters !!! The game started with a stinging line drive straight back at Knox's big gun pitcher !
from Ryan " the elbow" Lea !!! This put Knox on the back foot for the rest of the day and they never recovered !! The bats were back!! Lead by John " the hammer" King
smashing a long long home run to dead centrefield !!!! Thomas " the tank" Sheils never gets cheated when he swings the bats and also chimed in for a couple of big
hits !! It was I think one of our best efforts for the season !! All the boys did there bit !! Special mention the the Birthday boy Mighty " Mitch " Ellis really solid at 2nd base
and picked up a couple of hits for the morning even though we knew he was looking forward to his senior debut later in the day !!
Great way to finish up the home and away rounds boys !! But the job is just begining !! Lots of work this week at training to prepare us for Westgrath at home for the
first final this week !!!!
Lets hope all the club gets down to the ground early to support the boys !!
coach Lester
Round 8
G.M.B.C vs Greensborough 11-7
Well in what could be described as the ugliest game of the year the G.M.B.C. boys managed to fight off a very determined Greensborough team . With 3 of our boys away and 2 boys playing through some pain and injury ! Mitch " kicked in the back " Ellis and Ryan " the dogdie elbow" Lea we only had the bare nine !! and 7 fit players !!! With very few highlights worth
mentioning ! Okay pitching performances from Lewis " the Lefty" Thorpe and Ben " I can play anywhere" Kernick . We managed to keep a good hitting performance from the borugh
boys to only 7 runs !! The only highlights worth mentioning would be 2 nice flyballs ! one each from Matt " the milky bar kid " Materson and Adam " the hairy one " Johnstone !!!
Although there was a few that fell in !! Obviously we managed to strings some hits together to pile up 11 runs ! Adam " the hairy one" Johnstone lined a ball up the middle for a nice hit !!! But all in all we will need a much bigger effort from all the boys over the next couple of weeks if we expect to win it all !!!
coach Lester
Round 7
G.M.B.C vs Heathmont / Nth Balwyn 24-0
Finally we almost had a full squad this week ! Minus Ryan " I'm in the States" Lea ! Apologies to the bottom placed Heathmont/ Nth Balywn
It was the long awaited return of Thomas " the tank " Shiels from football duties and he took off exactly where he left off from last year ! With the big upper cut swing "crushed"
a couple of long long balls to deep left centre ! Welcome back mate ! No one was more happy to see Thomas back more than Matt " The All star" Morris because this allowed
the all-star back to where he is most comfortable 1st base ! Mat is without doubt the best fielding junior 1st baseman I have seen !! Well back to the game Lewis " the bomber"
Thorpe pitched the first two innings not giving up a hit and continuing his no hits per innings from the Wang !! Our bats exploded early in the first and we racked up 7 quick runs
giving up only 1 out ! 7 more in the 2nd without an out and 5 more in the 3rd and 4th ! Ben " im injury free" Kernick hop on the mound in relief and shut down the Heathmont hitters
allowing only 1 hit ! We had some fun and moved some players around in the field just to keep the interest up !!! Kernick to the mound , Thorpe to shortstop, Ellis to first base ,Morris
to third base and Mat " the milkman" and Adam "socks" Johnstone into the Outfield ! Good game boys these one are hard to stay in but I think we manage to do this !!
PS. My apologies to JOHN " I'm in the 1st" KING or just Kong to his mates ! for last week forgetting to mention him as one of our Diamond Valley under 16s Reps !!! Sorry mate
you played extremely well as usual and should of been named all-star shortstop !!
Just a quick note on the Diamond Valley under 16s ! Our boys were outstanding and represented our club extremely well ! They went through the tournament undefeated and played
some great baseball to win it all !! John King , Lewis Thorpe , Mitchell Ellis , Matt McQuiggan , Thomas Shiels and Matt " the ALL-STAR " Morris
Coach Mark " Lester" Ellis
Round 6
G.M.B.C vs Watsonia Red 12-5
Well it was another cold old morning down at the Monty dome and I guess the weather kept everyone
away ! We only had 7 players for the day as 4 were unavailable and Nathan just didn't show !!!!!
Well the good news was that Watsonia only had 8 players too !! Lewis " the lefty " Thorpe started on
the mound and was at his dominating best !! He kept the Watsonia hitters on the back foot all morning
and apart from a hit to there Female 1st baseman Lewis stopped them from reaching base ! I'm not sure
the boys think there might of been a phone number exchanged for the hit !!!
Ben " the injury prone" Kernick was again restricted with an injury this time to his thumb !! I think footy
has to go mate !! He managed to drop down a couple of bunts which helped out on the day ! Josh " the
big unit" Ward again displayed his amazing bat speed and crushed 4 balls deep into the leftfield fence !
2 triples and 2 long outs ! Great hitting Josh ! Having such a good day with the bat the coach decided
to give the big unit a pitch !! Lets just say Wardy should of stuck to his hitting triples !!!!!
With the top of our order getting plenty of hits aswell 3 to Lewis" the lefty" Thorpe and
3 hits to Mighty Mitch Ellis there were lots of opportunities to score !! And
score we did 12 runs for the day in what was a comfortable win in the end !! Great effort boys we did
all the right things today ! It was a good way to bounce back after the week before !!!
Well don't forget there is no game this weekend as its the Under 16 Diamond Valley trip !!
We have 6 players out of 14 in total representing G.M.B.C this weekend ! What a Fantastic effort
Good luck to all the boys ! we will not train this week so all of you guys that are sick and injured can rest
up ready for the second half of the season !!
G.M.B.C reps are :
Mitchell Ellis . Matt McQuiggan , Matt Morris , Lewis Thorpe , Simon Fitzmaurice ,Thomas Shiels
Round 5
G.M.B.C vs Waverley
Well in what could only be described as a very very disappointing effort our Monty boys travelled out to a very cold Waverley and I don't know
if it was the cold , chilly , misty winter morning but our boys were terrible !!!!
With what I could only describe as very very ordinary defense we time and time again gave Waverley some very easy runs ! Too cap that off
we didn't have a great day with the bat to say the least !! We had lots of opportunities to score runs but as has happened many times this
season we wasted lots of opportunities !!! Our big bats didn't do much at all !! Playing what l would describe as a Waverley team that was not
at there usual star studded lineup . It would have been nice as it always is to get one up on the famous Waverley bc .. Our line up which includes
6 State players is not playing as it should !! We need these experienced senior boys to take the lead and senior role and help the new boys adjust.
The only bright note for the day was the good pitching performance from Ryan " Im in the 1sts" Lea He threw plenty of strikes but as I have already
said was let down by some average fielding !!! We are going to miss him over the 5 weeks and like I said need others to step up !!!!!
As there is training tryouts for the Diamond Valley u16s team again this Thursday night and we have no game on the weekend !! there will be no
under 17s training this week !!! I suggest all players who are not involved in DV take the week off and think about there attitudes and commitment
to the team !!!
Coach Lester
Round 4
G.M.B.C vs Knox 9-5
It was mild morning down at the Monty dome this week as our boys took on the reigning premiers of last year Knox ! And while a
resident worry wart Lewis " The Lefty " Thorpe again commented on how big the Knox boys were he soon cut them down to size !
A great performance on the mound by both our pitchers again this week ! Lewis " the lefty" Thorpe and John " the Kong " King were
strong allowing only 5 runs for the game and some sound defense had the Knox big boys struggling !!
A long awaited return of Ben " The broken foot" Kernick led the offence with a long ball hit to the fence in the 1st and a possible "in the park home
run" turned into a single then the slowness stolen base ever recorded in the history of baseball 13.35 sec set up the innings for some strong
team hitting behind him ! timely Hits from Mat " squeaky " Morris , Mighty Mitch Ellis and Nathan " the all knowing rookie" O'Neal scored our
first runs !
Base Running and not hitting the cut off man were our only flews this week so boys be ready to do some base running and outfield cutoffs this
week at training ! We also will be going over the team rules again just so everybody is sure they know what's expected
Good effort boys see you all at training this week ! DON'T forget the masterclass I think its infield this week so should be great ! Also DON'T
forget the "MONTY MOUSE CUP" This weekend
Coach Lester
Round 3
G.M.B.C vs Ringwood 9-3
Well we were on the road again this week ! out to cold wet old Ringwood !! I don't think I have ever played there when its been sunny and dry !!!!
Anyhow our Monty boys didn't let the conditions get them down and bounced back beautifully after last week shock loss !
Simon " the big cat" Fitzmaurice had a rare opportunity on the mound this week and was fantastic !! He just dominated the Ringwood hitters !
Again we seemed to be playing an older team than us but our boys weren't intimidated at all ! With the bare nine again due to some boys footy
commitments and a still injured star recruit Ben " the broken foot" Kernick !
Strong hitting right thru the line up scored us plenty of runs with a special mention to our latest recruit Nathan " the monster" O'Neal who although
had his hat on backwards for most of the game chimed in for 2 hits ! great work rookie ! John " the closer" King came in for the last couple of innings
and just shut out Ringwood ! Another highlight of the game was the nice double play turned by Morris , Ellis , Ward !! nice play fellows .
Next week we take on Knox in a Grand final replay and although we have a totally different line up it will be a great challenge so see you all at
training Thursday night !
Coach Lester
Round 2
G.M.B.C vs Watsonia Black 5-11
Well it was a cold wet and miserable morning down at the Monty Dome this week ! And to my disappointment that's pretty much how we played !!!!
Our pitchers couldn't find the strikezone and gave up 16 walks for the day and im pretty sure you don't win to many games when that happens ! But
poor defense and not much hitting also contributed to a disappointing day ! The highlight of the day was of course Mat " the milkybar kid" Masterton
got his first hit and caught a great flyball in the deep ! Fantastic effort mate ! The rest of the boys need to come next week with your excitement and
commitment to the game and if they do we will dominate all opposition teams !
Boys lets all get to training this week and work hard ! Remember the masterclass is on again ! This week its pitching !!! so all try to get there !! and also
This Friday night is junior pie night !!! so lets all get there and fill up on pies ready for our next game
Coach Lester
Round 1
G.M.B.C vs Greensborough 9-4
Well here we ago again ! Its was a superb Saturday morning to start off the season at sunny Greensborough ! With the bare 9 on the field due to a couple of injuries and school footy
commitments our boys were excited to finally get the season going ! No runs in the top of our 1st innings but we stranded a runner at 3rd ! Lewis " the lefty" Thorpe took to the mound
for his first game in under 17s and although having his usual self confidence problems settled in and was his dominate force !! Handling the dewy ball was and will always be fun early
in our games ! There were a few wild throws but all in all our defense was grand ! The big bats in the heart of the lineup sprang to life early in the 2nd and 3rd ! A couple of big hits by
Ryan " the sluggining 2nd baseman" Lea and Simon " the Big Cat" Fitzmaurice put us on the board !! More runs followed with the help of the 2 new boys Adam " The Hair" Johnstone
and Mat " The Karate Kid" Masterton . Mat " I can play anyway" Morris was strong behind the dish and chipped in with a couple of hits as to Mighty Mitch Ellis and John" Im in the 1st" King
But I guess the play of the day was Josh" The big unit " Ward's snare down the line at 3rd and the big throw across the diamond to get the speedy runner ! Nice work big guy !!
Well let all get to training on Thursday night DONT forget the Master class on hitting and the roast dinner after need to know numbers for dinner today
Coach Mark " Lester" Ellis
Round 2
Our second game was against Research.
Once again our kids came out ready to get some hits. We tallied up 10 hits. Daniel Martin is just on fire. He got another 2 hits this week – a single and a double, with 3 RBIs. He is leading the batting stats !! Ryan and Andrew also got another 2 hits, and 2 RBIs each. John got a beautiful triple to center, and Jack got his first hit !! And yes Leigh – that was a nice hit to “3” - particularly since you were robbed with that beautiful hit to left (the fielder just happened to be there !).
Macca started the pitching again this week. He pitched 4 innings, threw 53 pitches, only 17 balls. He struck out 10 of the 14 batters he faced, only walking 1 this week and giving up one hit. His ERA is 0.00 after two weeks !! John King came in to pitch the last two innings – he struggled a bit – but got the job done. It has been some time since he has had a pitch !! Only 2 runs came across the plate – one unearned.
Research only had 8 players so we let them “borrow” Oliver for the game (better for everyone to have a full game, rather than having someone sit on the bench) – and did he make a fantastic catch in right field ! Although I don’t think John will agree with that. Great job Oliver and thanks for helping out !
It was unfortunate that Ben had to sit out this week’s game too. Ringwood is still considering his clearance. It is not good to see a junior not being able to play baseball – we are hopeful he will be able to play next week. It is great you are coming to support the team and again, some great base coaching Ben !!
Great start to the season boys and lets have some more fun next week !!
Round 1
Our first game was against North Balwyn. It is great to see North Balwyn building up their junior programme. Unfortunately for them, our boys came out firing. We kept their batters to only 1 hit and we were able to record 13 hits. The final score was 26 – 0 (reverted back to 21 – 0).
All players got bat on ball. We have 3 brand new players, Jack, Oliver and Mitchell – they did not get a “hit” in their first baseball game – but they all got on base. It was just fantastic, they really contributed to the win !! The other more seasonal baseballers came out hitting – Ryan and Daniel Martin both with 3 hits; Sam, John, Daniel with 2 hits; and Andrew with 1 hit. Of the 13 hits there were 8 doubles and 1 triple.
Daniel McGrath (“Macca”) started the pitching – facing 12 batters in 3 innings – striking out 7 and no hits. He had a couple of “moments” trying out some new pitches – walking 3 and hitting one batter. One of the batters that was walked ended up getting thrown out at second when Ryan made a beautiful throw to John to catch the runner trying to steal. They don’t like having runners on base ! Andrew came into pitch for the last inning, only allowing one hit, and then getting them out 1,2,3. In the 4th inning, Mitchell was playing 2nd base and fielded a grounder and turned a double play ! Tagging the runner and getting the runner out at 1st (it was the 3rd and 4th out – but who cares – it was a heads up play !!).
It was unfortunate that Ben had to sit on the side line due to Ringwood not signing his clearance – but he was a great 1st base coach !!
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