The Newcastle team travelled to Wollongong during the October long weekend to contest the NSW Country Championships. After being runners up last year, the team was keen to improve on this performance during the weekend.

Upon arrival in Wollongong on the Friday night, the team was met with heavy rain which, although reduced to spasmodic showers during the weekend, caused a disrupted carnival. Newcastle, Illawarra, Central Coast and the NSW Under 18’s made up the A division. Due to the wet weather, the 6 preliminary games were reduced to three games, with each team playing each other once.

Results

Game 1: Newcastle 7 defeated Country Under 18’s 0
Hitting: Boss Moanaroa 2, Cory Pringle, Brad Garland, Scott Harrison, Tim Graham 1 each
Pitching: Matt Ireland 6 inns, 6 Ks, 1 BB, 3 hits, 1 ER

Game 2: Illawarra 5 defeated Newcastle 0
Hitting: Peter Long, Ben Terry, Tim Graham 1 each
Pitching: Michael Campbell 4 inns, 4 Ks, 4 BB, 6 hits, 5 ER

Game 3: Newcastle 4 defeated Central Coast 3
Hitting: Brad Garland, Boss Moanaroa, Martin Bell, Michael Campbell, Scott Harrison and Tim Graham 1 each
Pitching: Callen Davies 5 inns, 2 Ks, 2 BB, 5 hits, 3 ER

From the three games, 2 wins was enough to make the final which was played against Illawarra on the Monday morning. Unfortunately, rain again interrupted play and despite every effort by the grounds staff, play was stopped in the bottom of the 4th inning with the score tied at 1 all. Due to the better results in the preliminary rounds (Illawarra winning their three games), Illawarra were declared Championship winners.

Overall, despite the reduction in games played, Newcastle managed to show a strong fighting spirit and some very good baseball. Unfortunately, Peter Long was injured in the preliminary game against Illawarra after hitting a double and then being thrown out in a collision at the plate on the next play. Peter took no further part in the carnival with his injured knee. We wish him a full recovery.

It was a pleasure to coach this talented team – we are not far away from a championship victory. My thanks to John Mossop for his efforts as EO, to Kevin O’Brien for his pre-carnival organisation, to Cam Turner for his assistance and Elese Poole for her assistance with the scoring.

Ian Anderson