QUICK SCORE SUMMARY - CLAXTON SHIELD 2007

5

CONGRATULATIONS 
VICTORIAN ACES
2007 CLAXTON SHIELD CHAMPIONS!

ACES HIGH AFTER BEATING NSW 4-3 

FOR 17th SHIELD!

While the Sydney-Melbourne rivalry, if there is such a thing, is grossly overstated, there still remains a good healthy tradition of sporting challenges between the two most populous Australian states. We suppose that the Grand Final victory may have been just a fraction sweeter for Victoria in toppling NSW than if they had played their football rivals from the western border who were not expected to make it to the last day of the carnival anyway. We speak of SA who were so desperately unlucky to lose the Preliminary Final after "THAT BOUNCE"! It still befuddles everyone a day later!

The NSW Patriots were the undisputed stars of the preliminary round with a perfect 5-0 record but the Victorians grabbed the marginal favouritism by virtue of the small advantages that come with winning the major semi-final. Including that semi, their head-to-head record was one win and one loss each but the thing that may have caused concern to the Victorian camp was the manner of NSW's win in the prelim... they had become the team that had absolutely nothing to lose as the team that really shouldn't have been there. To use casino gambling terms, the NSW team had the considerable luxury of "playing with the house's money" and teams like that can be tough to beat in a one-off baseball game.

Leaving aside the non-baseball based predictions, it was a fact that the Aces could boast deeper and more rested pitching stocks because of the need for NSW to play that one extra "must win" Preliminary Final game yesterday. It probably was the decisive factor in the end that the Aces had well rested starters Greg Wiltshire and Adam Blackley at their disposal, while the Patriots had to rely on their third starter and a slightly depleted bullpen to do their duty in the biggest game. 

Championship Game MVP Wiltshire was his usual reliable self when it counted most for Victoria. His eight innings start in such physically draining heat and under so much pressure was quite typical of the value that he has been to the Victorian cause during recent campaigns... he has often been the "horse" of the bullpen and on this day he was MAKYBE DIVA!! He was put under immense pressure early in the game and he initially struggled to contain the potent NSW offence. But, by the time he departed after securing 23 big outs, he had his Aces team still well and truly in the hunt for the marbles. He spiced his 120-odd pitch marathon with 11 K's! Greg is the "horse" that you can saddle up and ride all the way to victory!

Adam Blackley had already announced his arrival as a big time pitcher at this level earlier in the tournament and he relished the opportunity to secure the biggest win of his AMLB career in this game with 1.1 innings of excellent relief. Adam did flirt with a couple of walks but he had the quality to overcome the pressure of the situation and to finish off the sterling work of Wiltshire. Wiltshire and Blackley were so good that the Aces did not need to invoke the terror of Peter Moylan at the end of the game, but you can bet that he would have been seen if the game had gone into extra innings.

Relatively young Aces veterans and co-captains Mathew Kent and Ben Utting were the men for the big occasion again today when both had two hits and both supplied mighty valuable RBI's via solo home runs in almost exactly the same direction over the right field fence. I mentioned that 'Mighty Matt' Kent was almost the hero for the Victorians in the final of Claxton 2006 until Queensland rallied back to snatch the title... this year there was nothing to detract from another terrific effort by the 26yo catcher who must rank among the finest of Victorian Claxton Shield players of the recent era. He put an exclamation mark next to this by winning the Batting Championship and the most famous Helms Award at Claxton 2007. 

It is almost "ditto" for Benny Utting who has a longer tenure at this level but he is also one of Victoria's greatest players of the AMLB era, with few signs of him fading away any time soon! A quick mention of Ryan Booth in this game too because he played an important role after replacing the struggling Derek Shumpert for the latter part of the game. Booth came within a couple of metres in direction from tying the game with perhaps the biggest hit seen to the distant right field corner... but it faded agonisingly foul. However, he followed this with his next at bat that was a leadoff single in the ninth.

Paul Rutgers will probably enjoy most of the press attention with his game winning RBI in the bottom of the ninth, and fair enough, but don't leave Paul Weichard out of the hero calculations in this case. Weichard has been an outstanding offensive contributor for the Aces in Perth during this Claxton Shield and his hustle to prevent the back end of a double-play in the ninth inning of this game was a pivotal moment in the contest. 

There has to be a loser in every baseball game, but there were plenty of near heroes for New South Wales who were, to state the very obvious, tremendous opponents. With some strain on their bullpen after playing eight straight days, Vaughan Harris was terrific for his team as the unlikely starter in such a big game... had the Patriots held on to the lead he gave them he would have been a MVP candidate. Todd Grattan did his level best but the Victorians cut him very little slack, while Matthew Williams was typically workmanlike after taking the ball again for his team in the clutch. Spare a thought for Andrew Cooke who threw just three pitches at the end of the big game to take the loss on Rutgers' RBI hit.

Maybe shading Harris for the MVP if the Patriots had prevailed would have been that prolific evergreen slugger Brendan Kingman who simply continues to pulverise pitchers at the AMLB level and just about everywhere else as well. 'Slugga' Kingman couldn't hide what looked like a nasty leg injury that slowed him to a near walk on the basepaths, but this could not stop the career hitting machine from banging 2-4 with the only extra base hit for NSW. Also a prolific hitter who just seems to get better and better is Gavin Fingleson who had a 3-4 game, while star catcher Andrew Graham concluded a fine personal tournament with his two solid hits.

While the Victorian camp will no doubt party long and hard after securing the success that has just eluded them recently, I will be trying to catch up with finishing a couple of the incomplete reports over the next few days if anyone is interested in those? Then, I intend to produce an overview of the tournament in Perth, which was a STUNNING SUCCESS, while we contemplate what the future may hold for the staging of this most famous and traditional baseball showcase in Australia?

As we sign off at this same time every year, we just can't wait for the next Claxton Shield installment in 2008... this is of course presuming that it might already be too late to hope for a new National League for 2007/08.

SNAKE-BITTEN SA ROBBED 3-2 BY NSW!

For eight and one half innings the South Australians held sway against the favoured NSW Patriots in the Preliminary Final and their quality relief pitcher Paul Mildren seemed to have the confidence to preserve their presence in the Grand Final. He pitched impressively in the eighth and then returned to the mound to start the ninth. Just then those extremely cruel and unreliable "baseball gods" must have changed their minds about the outcome of the game which they snatched from under the noses of the SA boys in the most incredible and unpredictable circumstances.

Much like memorable Yankee home runs that kicked the guts out of their rival Red Sox from Bucky 'Bleeping' Dent and the similar effort from Aaron 'Bleeping' Boone some years later, this moment has already been etched into Australian baseball folklore as simply "THE BOUNCE"... and South Australian people would be entitled to add an expletive or two. With Trent Oeltjen leading off the ninth for NSW he made unconvincing contact with what appeared to be a routine two-hopper to the first baseman who would only need to glove the ball and stroll to the base for the force-out... one out, right?... WRONG! 

Just to make the whole event look more incredible, the first bounce of the ball was a nice even height and the confident first sacker was able to position himself perfectly for the predictable arrival of the ball after the second hop about five metres in front of him on the beautifully manicured grass infield... how could anything possibly go wrong? Even though a number of people were watching it unfold with me, I'm not sure that any of us can quite believe or attempt to explain what might have made the baseball take off like a Dennis Lillee bouncer on the old WACA pitch... it bounced SEVERAL FEET over the head of the disbelieving fielder and rolled agonisingly into right field for a leadoff double... GAME OVER!

No folks, you have not missed anything in this report, the game wasn't quite over but with the tying run safely in scoring position instead of one out back in the dugout, the psychological damage that it had done to the SA team and the corresponding lift that it gave to the Patriots made it plainly obvious that there was only one result soon to happen. Those often mentioned but yet undiscovered tribes secluded in the Amazon rain forests were betting on a NSW win at that point and they would receive a very paltry return for their outlay. It would not be my wish to add any further salt to the South Australian wounds but they would also be devastated to learn that it was possibly the ONLY bad-hop that I can remember throughout the tournament... and I have watched every game at Baseball Park in Thornlie this week!!

Keen followers of this web site will realise that I am writing the rest of this report after the conclusion of the Claxton Shield... and it may be a good thing that I did, because it gives me the perfect segue to comment on the selection of the "Rookie of the Year Award" that went to NSW 37yo starting pitcher David Rosser. It was a popular choice with a hint of sentiment for the "veteran rookie" who performed very well, but it also appeared to some of us that the selectors had forgotten about SA's equally impressive 33yo rookie Taj 'Mahal' Merrill? 

Rosser may have been minutely more impressive in his preliminary round start than Merrill when both pitched well in no-decision winning games for their respective teams. The seasoned pair went head-to-head in this game but, although NSW were the lucky winners, most would suggest that Merrill was the more impressive of the duo today. It could be taken as another slap on the face for the hard-luck South Aussies that "THE BOUNCE" robbed Taj of the Golden Arm Award? Whatever the case, both of these guys came up VERY BIG for their teams in this game... they were terrific in Perth!

Matt Bennett was very good as he most often is for the Patriots at the squeezy end of the game but he will have to thank "THE BOUNCE" for delivering him a very fortunate 'W' in this game. On the agonising receiving end of the mental torture was Paul Mildren, who I mentioned was possibly one FREAK bounce away from being one of the heroes in a memorable South Australian victory. He looked in total control until the game went into melt-down after... no need to mention it!!

The effectiveness of the South Australian pitching can very easily be explained by a summary of the powerful NSW batting in this game... or the lack thereof. The Patriots total of three hits were credited to three of their undisputed stars from this event and any other; Kingman, Williams and Oeltjen... these guys are GUNS! It is a further dose of unpalatable medicine for SA that the Patriots' only extra-base hit for the game came from... no, please, I can't mention it any more!!! 

SA stalwart Marc Tainty has had some good seasons at AMLB level but maybe none better than this Claxton Shield event in Perth. His three hits in this game were enough to match the NSW total all by himself! Their other hitters all had only one knock each, but they made them count for extras when Wilson slammed a triple to surpass Brice and Cresswell who each doubled. Tom Brice and the steadily emerging Stefan Welch were South's RBI men.

I guess it is not 'Flintoff & Dunn's' job to re-write history so... um, er, well done NSW on reaching another final. To tell the painful truth one last time, we feel extremely sorry for South Australia who may have been "Cindarella Champions" had they taken their rightful place in the Grand Final... who will ever know? The history books don't always tell the tale.

VALLIANT VICS BOOK ANOTHER FINAL 6-3 v NSW!

Leading the band of proud Victorians who were seeking personal redemption was seasoned starting pitcher Russell Spear who is one of the proudest pitchers going around. I did mention after his uncharacteristic below-par performance in his first start that you could virtually bank on him bouncing back hard... Russ is just that kind of guy! Look, let's be honest, Spear wasn't near his brilliant best again in this game, but his sheer determination to battle through some tough patches in the game kept his damage down to a manageable three runs this time. It was the kind of big-hearted effort that David White would have been asking for in this major semi-final... Russell Spear was, as he most often is, up to the big task. 

Spear probably deserved the win from this game but I'm sure that he wouldn't mind team mate Matthew Blackmore taking the 'W' for his own debut carnival stats. Blackmore walked a couple but he kept the scoreboard attendant snoozing once again in another impressive performance for the Aces... he is a real "find" from this campaign. You would not have been able to get any odds from Centrebet that 'Big Pete' Moylan would emerge from the bullpen to confirm Victoria's grasp on the first available Grand Final berth. This is surely the most menacing sight for opposing teams when major leaguer Moylan jogs onto the diamond and begins to warm-up with his NASTY side-arm stuff. He overmatches most hitters here!

On the flip side, the quartet of NSW pitchers did very little wrong themselves and some of their problems at the pointy end of the contest were at least partly caused by some defensive adventures in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of a dramatic playoff. What was very obvious was a much more patient and purposeful approach from the Victorian batters when compared to the first game when they made the very effective Craig Anderson look like he was pitching hand grenades. Anderson didn't last quite as long this time, but he was pretty tidy overall. Richard Thompson looked really sharp for his 1.1 innings but the Patriots may have blundered by trying to preserve his arm for later battles.

The two Matthews, Williams and Bennett weren't too bad either, but they were in the wrong place at the wrong time when the Victorian Aces finally started to gather some offensive momentum near the end of the game. Williams may have dodged a bullet in the seventh when he slithered out of a bases loaded jam with a double-play, but he was tagged with two unearned runs in the eighth to register the loss in the game. Bennett also allowed a couple of hits in the ninth but the Aces two insurance runs were also unearned.

The cream of Victoria's hitters rose to the top just in time for the big occasion today with Ben Utting, Danny Berg, Brad Harman, Matt Kent and Andy Russell each supplying two-hits for the night. There weren't too many that didn't contribute something to the Victorian cause in this game, but the big two-RBI blow came from popular veteran Benny Utting in the eighth when he captured the dramatic lead for his team late in the game. As I said when he did a similar thing in the finals for Victoria last year, Ben has quite often been maligned for his "light hitting" as a skinny youngster during the ABL days, but he has always carried an underrated and dangerous bat... and he is the man for the big occasion!

Most of the batters in this game are among the elite offensive players on the domestic scene but they don't come much better than NSW trio of two-hitters Trent Oeltjen, Glenn Williams and Brendan Kingman... they get the job done.

While a jubilant but still focussed Victorian team will enjoy the quicker passage to the final on Saturday, there is an overwhelming sense that South Australia will need to pitch "out of their skin" to keep this NSW offence from earning another tilt at the Victorians for all the marbles! But then, try telling that to the departed Queenslanders!!

SA ENDS QUEENSLAND'S TITLE REIGN 5-0!

One cheeky neutral sort of summed up the magnitude of the upset after the game when he suggested that the confident Queenslanders might need to exchange their plane tickets with the South Australians so that they, rather than SA, could make the early departure from Perth! Of course baseball is never really such an easy sport to predict for one game.

What they may have overlooked on this occasion was that SA's man mountain pitching ace Dushan Ruzic would be back for his start in the rotation after warming up with ELEVEN strikeouts during his seven innings winning start against WA. Ruzic certainly set his team firmly on the path to a sensational shutout win with another dominant starting effort. They would be setting up the straight-jackets for anyone who might suggest that Ruzic could be any better than his first start but, if anything, he was. His Herculean three-hit, complete game shutout in this important semi-final will rank among those many great pitching efforts in Claxton Shield history, evenly though he ONLY struck out SIX on this occasion!! What a beauty!!

We make no apologies for mentioning 'Bashing Ben' Wigmore often in these reports, but then we can hardly apologise for reporting the fact that he is a remarkably consistent big-game performer for the South Australian team this century. With no intent to disrespect his team mates over those years, we really dread to think what the SA offence would have been like without this guy! 'Wiggy' was once again the man for the moment today with his 2-4, including his HUGE two-RBI single. Young Josh Cakebread was SA's only other plural-hitter in this game, but Marc Tainty added to a terrific carnival again.

Just to get Queensland's paltry offence out of the way quickly, only Scheonberger, Naughton and Sutherland managed to lay any serious wood on Ruzic in a game where they had only five base runners, only one runner reaching second base and not a single extra-base hit. We'll give most of this credit to big Dushan Ruzic for dominating this game.

John Veitch started the game for the Rams and, while he did not enjoy anywhere close to his finest hour in AMLB, he would point to the fact that only one of the five runs he allowed was earned. It was not enough for him to be given longer on the mound than 4.2 innings while he also took the loss. He wasn't too bad with five hits somewhat balanced by ten ground ball outs... it could have been better for him on another day. The established Chris Mowday took over with 2.1 innings of stable middle relief, so too the quality arms of Wayne Ough and Tristan Crawford who contributed an innings each for no addition to the scoreboard. With these guys in the bullpen, it explains why Veitch didn't have much rope!

As it so often happens in a cut-throat game, the underdogs somehow find it easier to perform without the extra weight of expectation. Let's give credit to the South Australians for playing very well when it counted, but then it wasn't too hard for them to hitch their wagon behind Dushan Ruzic, with some help from the prolific Ben Wigmore.

It will be an all too sudden departure for Queensland who will be returning to the Sunshine State without the Claxton Shield this year. They didn't do too much wrong here, but when they get over the shell-shock, they will realise that they ran into a Dushan Ruzic buzz-saw on this occasion... that was all she wrote!!