After the sun of Perth last year, Geelong has made going to the beach more remote than the re-election of Julia Gillard. The wind springs up early morning and howls all day. Southern Ocean stuff. The clouds roll in, the rain follows, the sun breaks through…Melbourne. Temperatures around 20 degrees are unusual for the northerners at this time of year. The whinging is alive and well. Jackets are more popular than Normie Rowe’s Coles advertisements.
Arriving at the ground this morning, the buzz centred on the speed of the Victoria (Blue) first pitcher, Luke Brazier. People queued to watch his warm up. He had the scouts in a flap as he hurled down his missiles in the mid 80 miles per hour. 85, 86, 84 mph were three readings I saw. Extremely quick for a fifteen/ sixteen year old. As a result our batting looked lame. Zoot, swish, nil, nothing….
As the ball smashed into the catcher’s mit, it sounded like a gun shot.
Cameron Power though cracked one deep and was caught, proving that the bats could work. Eckberg got a walk. Rare gold as we limped to a 5 run deficit. The first base coach may as well have called for a chair. He was redundant.
It was not before Ben Hunt, a fighting young lean lad from Cronulla, sliced a triple did we get anywhere near a run. Brazier dominated so much it was awesome.
When he was taken from the mound, having reached his pitching limit, we began to re-build. The game became more equal with their secondary pitchers, showing a chink in their armour. Hits came more readily and we rallied to a two run deficit. Hits to Frew (2/3) who was again strong and singles to Power, Packer, Mayo, O’Connell, Richardson and Philibossian was the sum of it.
Unlike the opposition who went very hard at us, the young brigade (all first year 14 year old players) did nearly all the pitching today as we tried to keep a few tricks from Victoria, while still being competitive.
Gavin Dixon led off with a great level of composure and speed. Brad Simon was scratchy and Dan Myrmell pitched more than he had all season in all levels of baseball. Joel Dyer pitched some ‘junk’ at the end and did a good job. In reality, we did very well to hold them and then get close.
Our fielding was reasonable. Catches were taken when required, but it was often messy. Inaccurate catcher throws, a dropped catch in the infield and some slow outfield efforts to gather in loose hits contributed to a ballooning final score. By the end, the gap had widened to 14-8.
James only played the last innings fielding at centrefield with zest and composed assurance. He was what became the last bat of the game making great contact but being caught in right field. A tough result, but that is the game. He has hit the ball every time he has batted, but is finding fielders everywhere. Unlucky batters don’t become frequent batters at this level.
Coming in at sporadic intervals to bat is certainly a challenge. Opportunities float and fall. The consistency that regular batting brings is not on offer yet…and may not be.
However, he is learning a lot and seeing a standard in certain aspects of the game – especially pitching - that he needs to reach.
He remains upbeat and has the glint in his eye that has been sparkled and twinkled over the years in Hills reps and at his Baulkham Hills club side games. He is raring to play and needs to deliver.
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