Ballers complete Masters threepeat

The DY RSL Ballers took out the Tough Dog Autumn Masters last night with a comprehensive 13-1 victory over Pittwater. The Ballers, led once again by starting pitcher Nathan Smith, continued their undefeated run through the regular season to claim their 3rd Masters championship medal in as many attempts.

With Pittwater’s starting side impacted by the loss of key players Lindsay Leigh and Tony Richards, the Ballers took full advantage early. Smith shut down Pittwater’s hitters in the top of the 1st, before Imran Khan and Tim Malone reached base safely before being scored on a two RBI single by John Farrant. The momentum continued with Smith, Owen Harris, and Tim Clarke all claiming hits as the Ballers scored the maximum five runs with a sacrifice fly to left field by Matt Jones.

The sides both went scoreless in the 2nd inning with Rob Chessell stepping up to pitch for Pittwater. However with Smith once again shutting out the Pittwater hitters in the top of the 3rd inning, the Ballers added another four runs of their own to all but put the game out of reach. Some good hitting in the 4th inning by Lachlan Martin and Dean Ticehurst registered Pittwater’s first run but it proved too little too late as the Ballers completed the game with a further four runs in the 4th to seal victory and call an early finish.

The win completed the Ballers third straight Tough Dog Masters championship after recording previous wins in the 2016/17 Summer Masters and the 2017 Spring Masters.

We thank all of those involved during the Autumn season, in particular the MWBUA for providing umpires all season, Noel Markham for his work preparing the grounds and Simon Lowde for his tireless work at keeping things ticking along in the background.

Masters baseball goes into hibernation for winter but we look forward to welcoming back old and new faces to the competition when Spring come around in September.