There was a little bit of everything taking place for the Pakenham Pumas senior teams over the weekend. A1 gave up its chance of victory with one poor innings against Dandenong, while A2 scored its first win for the season against the same opponent. B1 scrapped out a hard-fought draw against Cheltenham, while B2 had a resounding 20-run victory in the highlight result for the round. And on a sad note, the women’s game between Pakenham Black and Pakenham White was called off early after a serious injury to a popular member of the club. Here’s how the weekend’s round of matches played out.
A1
Dandenong defeated Pakenham Pumas 9-2 on Saturday at Dandenong Angels Baseball Club thanks in part to nine runs in the fifth inning. Pakenham got on the board in the second inning after Yo Takehara singled, scoring one run. Dandenong flipped the game on its head in the bottom of the fifth, scoring nine runs on nine hits to take the lead, 9-1. Luke took the loss for Pakenham Pumas A1. The hurler went four and one-third innings, giving up nine runs on 12 hits, striking out two and walking three. Luke and Takehara were tough to handle back-to-back in the lineup, as each drove in one run for the Pumas. Taiga Saito, Takehara and Jesse Hunter each collected a hit.
A2
Pakenham Pumas A2 obtained their first victory of the season, defeating Dandenong 6-1 on Saturday. The Pumas got on the board in the top of the first inning after Rhys was struck by a pitch, driving in a run. Felicity then drew a walk, scoring one run, and for his first at bat in the black and white, Marco Polazzo tripled, scoring three runs. Pakenham added one run in the second after Daniel Harris singled to left field and stole to second base. Will then singled on a line drive to centre field, advancing Harris to third base. With Rhys then grounding out to shortstop, Harris advanced home and scored the run. The Pumas showed strong defence, only committing one error throughout the game. Multiple catches in both the infield and outfield, as well as clean ground outs, kept the Pumas defence tight, in addition to a successful pick off at second base to add to the defence. Scott Dale led things off on the bump for Pakenham. The hurler allowed two hits and one run over eight innings, striking out eight and walking three. Will, Daniel Harris, Felicity, and Marco Polazzo each collected one hit for Pakenham. Rhys and Polazzo each drove in two runs for the Pumas and Will stole two bases. Next up for Pakenham is a game at Mornington on Saturday.
B1
B1 took on Cheltenham and battled it out in a tight arm wrestle. Cheltenham took an early lead scoring two runs after some uncharacteristic fielding errors prevented the Pumas from starting with a clean sheet. The Pumas looked to start hot with a line drive safe hit to Connor Mills, but were slowed down with him being thrown out attempting to steal second with a perfect throw from the catcher. Brad Jones also singled but that was it for the first inning, the Pumas unable to score. The Pumas looked like themselves again in the field making ground outs and making catches to keep the score within reach and in the third inning, with two runners aboard, back-to-back shots from Brad Jones and Luke Billing saw three runs cross the plate to take the lead. Immediately the rustlers evened the score scraping together the tying run. Although both sides mounted challenges neither team could trouble the scorers again, despite glimpses of hope, including a monster double from Archer O’Halloran to centrefield, unfortunately losing his footing around second and being thrown out by a perfect throw to third. A full game on the mound from Brad Jones keeping the game within reach, but ultimately, we couldn’t string our hits together to capitalise on our hits.
Three catches in left field to Connor Mills and two great line drive hits to Lachlan the other highlights. Two draws now, and getting closer to our first win of the year.
B2
Wayne Porter collected four hits in five at bats, as the Pakenham Pumas B2 defeated Cheltenham 22-2 on Saturday. Wayne Porter doubled in the third inning, singled in the first inning, singled in the fourth inning, and singled in the sixth inning. Cheltenham was the first to get on the board in the first scoring one run. Pakenham flipped the game on its head in the bottom of the first, scoring six runs on five hits to take the lead, 6-1. Dan Kirby driving in two. Pakenham then scored seven runs on five hits in the bottom of the third inning. Tanya Porter hitting the first run in, Greg McCormick singled, scoring one run, Wayne Porter doubled, scoring one run, Travis Hough singled, scoring two runs, and Andrew Mayberry doubled, scoring two runs. Pakenham scored seven runs on eight hits in the bottom of the fourth inning. Oliver singled, scoring one run, Tanya Porter hitting in another run, Shaun Fahy singled, scoring one run, Wayne Porter singled, scoring one run, Dan Kirby singled, scoring one run, Andrew Mayberry singled, scoring one run, and an error scored one run. Shaun Fahy was on the mound and only gave up four hits and two runs (one earned) over four innings, striking out five and walking one. Wayne Porter then took over the mound for two innings of no-run ball in relief. Pakenham totalled 23 hits in the game. Wayne Porter and Dan Kirby each collected four hits. Andrew Mayberry batted in four runs bat. The catcher went 3-for-5 on the day. Travis Hough, Greg McCormick, Kyle Peck, and Ethan Hamilton each collected multiple hits for Pakenham.
WOMENS
Pakenham Pumas women’s teams went head-to-head in their first Derby Day of the season. The game started off strong with friendly banter and high spirits, with runs starting to tally on the board. Each team was looking competitive. Unfortunately, due to an injury, the game was called only after 20 minutes of play. We hope a speedy recovery to Leni and can’t wait to have her back out on the diamond. Our ladies are excited to head down to Berwick this week with Pakenham Black taking on Frankston and Pakenham White competing against Chelsea.
