baseball archives

NSWCCC SELECTIONS 2012

The NSW Inter-Diocesen Championships heralded a new era for NSWCCC. The first true test of the new website based registration for team sports.

Once again, we were blessed with great weather and teams on an enthusiastic high, ready for some competition. Five Diocese represented as individual teams this year – Broken Bay, MCS, Parramatta, Lismore and Southern Sydney. A sixth teams, the Convenor’s team, fielded representatives from numerous other Diocese.

The first round of play was dominated by some excellent pitching, especially from Parramatta starter, Zac Shepherd. Behind his strong arm, Parramatta jumped out to an early 9-0 lead. In true gritty style, MCS responded in the latter stages of the game, and through this tough fightback, took a 10-9 lead which they held till games end. In the other first round fixture, Broken Bay proved once again that they can manufacture a competitive side. Some tight pitching early help the Team from the Beach settle into an early lead. Only a late flurry of runs from Lismore brought the score to an exciting finish, with Broken Bay saving an 8-7 win.

Round Two had MCS maintain its unbeaten run in Diocesan play that they have established over the past two years. A competitive Southern Sydney outfit battled hard, but could not get the batted ball to fall safely and eventually fell to the MCS team 7-5. Following their long pilgrimage from the North Coast and their first round defeat, Lismore got on the offense from the start of play. Solid pitching and great hitting had Lismore score a commanding 9-0 defeat over the Convenors team.

Whilst defeated in this game, this team was very competitive and very well managed. Congratulations must be given to the Manager, Eryn Shipp, for her efforts on the day.  Eryn did an amazing job, coordinating players who have not trained or played together before, and giving them opportunities in both offense and defence to showcase their skillset before the selectors. An outstanding job!

This coordination proved to be a masterstroke, for in the Third and final round of play, the Convenors team caused what many considered to be a great upset, defeating the team from Broken Bay 6-2.  The final result between Parramatta and Southern Sydney was not submitted.

The end result was a case of both a first and a second for the Diocese of Lismore. The final for/against for runs score saw Lismore beat out MCS and become Champions for the second time (after a previous tie for first with Broken Bay).  Much more sweet was that this time, they were outright Champions!

NSW ALL SCHOOLS SELECTIONS 2012

The friendly confines of Baseball Park, Springfield, on the beautiful Central Coast provided a warm welcome for the participants represent all three sectors for the 2012 all School Championships. A beautiful prepared ground awaited some of the best schoolboy talent in NSW.

Following the unfortunate defeats in both All Schools games in 2011, NSWCCC sought to avenge the mistakes of games past and started very strong plating three runs in the First inning following hits from Jacob Youngberry and Nathan Skinner against an outstanding pitcher in Andrew Riddell from NSW CIS. Riddell struck out five NSWCCC batters in his three innings of work.

Hits in the Third inning from Adam Barbaro, Zac Shepherd and Callen Robertson added another two runs. Michael Gahan was outstanding on the mound for NSWCCC. In his 6 2/3 innings of work, Gahan gave up only one earned run, two hits whilst striking out five NSWCIS hitters. As his pitched count heightened, NSW CIS managed to get bat on ball, along with two errors from the NSWCCC managed to score four runs in the top of the Sixth inning to trail 5-4.

Wanting to secure the first win, NSWCCC went to their bullpen early and used the starting pitcher for the next game, Zac Shepherd, in relief. Being on a very tight pitch count, Shepherd went straight to work and struck out four hitters over the next two innings. Unfortunately, there was no crystal ball available. The NSWCCC team responded to the four runs scored knocking in seven runs of their own in the bottom of the Sixth to stretch their lead to eight runs. Hits from Nathan Skinner, and Tim Wakefield assisted by errant pitching helped to produce this massive innings. Having now used Shepherd, he could no longer pitch in the next game.

Another run was scored in the Seventh after a double from Tom Youngberry with two more scored in the Eight with consecutive outfield hits from Jesse O’Connell, Jacob Youngberry and James Phillibossian to extend the lead to the final score of NSWCCC 16 NSW CIS 4.

Game Two of the double header saw Alex Richardson start from the mound and he dominated from the outset. Whilst not overpowering, Richardson tied up the more fancied NSWCHS hitters giving up only one earned run and one hit, whilst striking out four in his 3 1/3 innings. By the time he was relieved by Sam Giulieri, NSWCCC  were leading 2-1. Bill Daly replaced Giulieri in the Sixth  and allowed the CHS hitters to get on top where they scored two runs and took the score out to a 3-2 lead. Sensing an upset, NSWCCC responded by putting a runner into scoring position in the Seventh but were not able to capitalise.

The Eighth inning proved crucial. Forced replacements meant our defensive structure was altered and an error by the replacement player allowed CHS to score two runs. CHS then went to their closer who stood up to the challenge that the NSW CCC bats offered. A very competitive NSWCCC went down fighting 5-3.

All players and Coaching staff must be congratulated on their outstanding level of competition on the day. The team was rewarded with four players being chosen to represent NSW at the School Sport Australia Championships in Adelaide.

Students selected in the NSW All Schools team:

Tim Wakefield - Gilroy Catholic College Castle Hill

Nathan Skinner - Xavier Catholic College Llandilo

Zac Shepherd - St Mark's Catholic College Stanhope Gardens

Michael Gahan - St John's College Woodlawn

Scott Murray - NSWCCC Baseball Convener/NSWCCC Manager (St Edward's College Gosford)

SCHOOL SPORT AUSTRALIA 2012

All players conducted themselves admirably and were a credit to their families and their sports associations.

Zac Shepherd was once again outstanding in defense all week. Other than the final where he made some uncharacteristic errors, he was a leading part of the defensive structure of the team. He made some outstanding plays and was awarded the Shortstop in the All Star team.

Considering the fact that he is a younger player and constantly under the eye of scouts (video cameras all come out when he fields the ball and stands at the plate) he handled the pressure with ease.

Nathan Skinner battled hard throughout the tournament and represented NSW proudly.

Tim Wakefield started the week as the second catcher but performed well enough behind the plate that he forced his way into the No.1 catching spot and therefore caught the most important games of the week including the final. He was extremely solid defensively and so much so, that he was awarded the coveted "Golden Glove" award for the statistically  best defensive player of the tournament. He threw out some runners in crucial times to change the nature of matches. As a result of his strong allround performance was also named as the Catcher in the All Star Team.

Michael Gahan performed pretty well as a pitcher and started the semi final qualification game. He performed well in his outings.

Brendon Wallace - All Schools Assistant Coach, Patrician Brothers' College Fairfield

Team: Baseball (2012)

CCC Team