What a magnificent weekend for the Pakenham Pumas with C1, C2 and the under-14s making their way into grand finals, while the A1 team will take on Cheltenham this week in the preliminary final after a nail-biting win over Mornington.
SENIORS
A1: Pumas 4 def Mornington 3
Pakenham Pumas A1 played their first ever Playoff elimination game against the Mornington Pirates at Mornington. The Pumas started of hot, scoring three runs in the first Innings. Luke Anson then took the mound as the starting pitcher and once again, like the whole year, was on fire with two scoreless innings. The Pirates didn’t give up and fought back scoring three runs. The Pumas put up a show defensively with a great double play turned by the shortstop Hiro that brought the team out of a bases-loaded jam. In the sixth inning the Pumas were able to score a run to get the lead back 4-3. The Pumas decided to hand over the ball to hard throwing Max Hunter for the seventh inning and he shut down the Pirates. With the lead of 4-3 going into the eighth inning the umpires spoke to the coaches saying the game will likely be called after eight innings because of the loss of daylight and the impending rain. The Pumas had two more runners on base in the eighth inning that forced the Pirates to another Pitching change. While the new Pitcher was warming up the umpires decided to call the Game. The whole team fought from the first pitch until the last. Pitching, hitting, defence and base-running, the team left everything on the field. The Pumas won 4-3 and advance to the next play-off round.
C1: Pumas 18 def Dingley 6
After suffering a first loss of the season to Dingley in the final round, Pumas played them again in the first C1 final. Brad Jones took to the mound and, after a few weeks off, struggled early to find his rhythm. Walks and well-placed singles put two runs across with outs to Chris Appleby at third and catches to Junior Simaika and Michael Elijah in the outfield. To get things going for the Pumas, Brad was hit by the pitch and Luke Billing walked. Jason Rossit scored Brad in via a flyball, but three outs ended the inning 2-1 down. Three quick outs, only separated by a walk to Dingley, saw the score unchanged after our second defensive inning. Bernie Tyers and Michael Elijah both walked with one out to get to scoring position, before Michael Sullivan forced an error to load the bases. Brad singled again to score two runs and take the lead. Chris joined the runners care of a hit-by pitch before Luke hit a towering shot to left centre to bring two more runs in to end the second inning. The Pumas were now leading 5-2. Walks and errors cost the Pumas dearly, giving up four runs, and the lead. Two fielders’-choice outs going to Jason before Brad struck out a hitter with the bases loaded to keep the game tight. Ray Pal singled with a line drive to left field and was replaced on base by the speedy Connor Mills-Emerson before back-to-back walks to Junior and Bernie loaded the bases again. Michael Elijah then singled to tie the game and Michael Sullivan singled to take the lead. Another single to Brad Jones scored two more runners and then Chris walked to laid the bases once more. Luke then hit a single to right field to score another pair and extend the lead further. Tim Stockdale then singled through the middle to add another two runs to the tally. Michael Elijah then hit a single, and an errant throw saw Tim score and Michael get to second base, before Michael Sullivan doubled to add another two runs. Brad Jones also doubled and swapped places with Mick, before we finally recorded a third out, to record a commanding 17-6 lead. Tim then came on to pitch and got the first out on one pitch via a catch to Michael Elijah at centre. Then another on the ground to Chris who made the second out, before a pop up to Luke at first saw the Dingoes retired on five pitches. Tim got aboard via a fielding error and was moved around via walks to Gavin Staindl and Michael Elijah. When Mick Sullivan walked it brought in our 18th run before the end of inning, and time and game was called, Pumas winning 18-6. The boys got it done this week in a fantastic team effort. Everyone contributed to the massive win highlighted by great offensive running by sub-runner Connor Mills-Emerson, who barely sat down in the offensive innings. A well-earned week off now before the grand-final in a fortnight.
C2: Pakenham 12 v Berwick 3
Pumas C2 played Berwick in the 1 v 2 semi-final this weekend with the winner going straight to the grand final. The Pumas went up 1-0 in the first innings and were 3-0 up before Berwick made a mini-comeback leaving the score at 3-2 at the half-way mark. The Pumas then launched into an offensive onslaught scoring nine runs over the next couple of innings. Greg McCormick was his usual awesome self, picking up three hits while Malachite O’Halloran picked up two including a well-timed triple. McCormick and O’Halloran each got two RBI’s as did Marc McGregor with a pivotal pinch-hit single. The final score was 12-3 to the Puma’s. Scott Dale pitched for Pakenham giving up seven hits, allowing three runs (two earned) and striking out nine batters. The win puts the Pumas straight into the grand final in two weeks’ time where they will play winner of the elimination final between Berwick and Mornington.
WOMEN: Pumas 4 def by Frankston 14
Pumas took on Frankston Tomatoes on Sunday in the last game of the regular season. We gave players the opportunity to create their own line-up and try new fielding positions for an interesting change. We saw pitching from Jess Moulding, Olivia Garcia, Felicity Clissold and Carni Dowsett, who took the mound for the first time in her baseball career. With four different pitchers we also saw three different catchers in Kaydence Mills-Emmerson, Felicity Clissold and another first for the Pumas Holly Lunn. The ladies had high spirits and played great baseball in a fun game filled with music, dance moves, and questionable commentary from our own Katherine Walton and Gedea Kareroa – which had both teams in fits of laughter with fabricated stats and witty repartee. It wasn’t meant to be for the Pumas with a loss to Frankston 4-14 The Pakenham Pumas women enjoyed their winter season and the ladies are looking forward to the summer season ahead.
JUNIORS
U12: Pumas 8 v Berwick 10
Pakenham had a slow start unfortunately in round 14, with a couple of beans and some hits the Berwick team scored the maximum early. The Pakenham bats fired up with nearly every player hitting stand up doubles through the cones. The improvements of all of the players were on show nearing the end of the season.
U14: Frankston-Pakenham 10 v Berwick 8
We’re into the Grand Final! This week will go down in the books as one of the best junior games played, with everyone on the edge of their seats and playing until the final minute to get the win. Logan stepped it up another notch this week, pitching two-and-a-half innings and hitting a bomb over centrefield. Molly came in to close and made the batters work for it with another week of solid pitching. Josh was red-hot at second base with a catch and a close play at first base. Dane’s reliable presence behind the plate saw a smart play to get the third out in the last dig. Lots of great at-bats with solid bat on ball and some even putting their body on the line. Chloe collected a few bruises after being hit-by-pitcher twice. Caity took a great fly in left-field before hitting the game-tying 2RBI triple. Harvey was next up to bat, his hit got Caity home to win the game. Now to take on the red tomatoes in the grand final and shake things up!!!
U16: Pumas 4 v Dingley 9
Pumas under-16s took on Dingley at Mornington for a chance to make the grand final. It was our home game and we started off well defensively getting the first two outs comfortably; but they managed to score before we could get out of the first dig. They took out our top order without getting any runs on the board thus putting a bit of pressure on our defence. They scored a few more runs before we get out and bat again this was the point where the boys rallied together and piled on four runs to get us within one run of Dingley at 4-5. Unfortunately, we couldn’t slow there bats down and they ended up pilling some unanswered runs on the board to take the win. The kids fought hard and you win some you lose some…next season lads.
