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Youth Baseball in Manchester

Game Reports 2002

Victory for Saints Juniors on opening day

Match report for 13^th April 2002

Game 1: Orrell Chippers Vs Manchester Saints (Pony Divison)

The new season opened at Allen field with the visitors at bat, brothers Liam & Adam Dickenson leading the line up, getting hits and scoring one run. Saints starting pitcher Johnny Woodall held for four innings without giving any more hits and claiming five strike outs.

Manchester started in blaze of hitting with all of the top line up scoring, a 5-1 lead to start the second.

A clutch of doubles from Michael Gaskell, Kurt Bubenzer and Kyle Saxton helped to build a strong lead reaching 14 by the bottom of the 5^th. The slaughter rule could have been enforced as Saints hit well throughout the game and Chippers only took 4 strike outs for 33 at bats.

The visitors threatened a rally scoring three in the 6^th as closing saints pitcher Karim Ariane gave up 2 hits, a walk and a hit batter Robin Howard on his second pitch. Saints held and defended strongly finishing 14-4 winners, not having to bat in the close.

Saints sunk by the Mariners at Preston

Match report for 27^th April 2002

Game 2:  Manchester Saints 3 Vs 7 Preston Mariners (Pony Division)

Saints failed to field a full strength team in their second game of the season and paid the price.

In very cold weather conditions Saints opening batters were dismissed by Mariners opener Dominic Marchand. In return the home side taking 1 run from a Tom Warwick RBI.

Saints 1b Karim Ariane opened the top of the second with BB and stole his way round the bases to score, followed by Kyle Saxton from a David McNeilage RBI. Preston capitalised on an off-form William Rubiano at the plate who gave up four BB’s struggling to find the elusive strike zone set by the umpire. William did pull back to strike out the ninth and lead of batters but not before the end of the innings the home team had put another four on the scoreboard.

Woodall scored off a single and stolen bases to put Saints at three in the top of the third, but Manchester failed to score again as Preston held on to their lead putting hitters on base with a steady run of singles. Manchester big hitters didn’t hit well on the day and the younger  boys couldn’t cope with good pitching from GB pitcher Tom Warwick, who took the mound without giving up a hit from the top of the 5^th, despatching four by S/O and only 1 BB.

Relief pitcher Jonny Woodall stepped in after Rubiano had to withdraw from the game still suffering from a recent virus. From the bottom of the third taking 4 S/O’s and giving 4 hits for 18 AB’s.

Seb Cartwright, Kurt Bubenzer and Karim all making superb fly catches helped keep the score to a modest 7-3 defeat for the visitors from Manchester. The game was brought to an abrupt end when a squeeze play was read by the home catcher Tyler Matter giving no chance to David McNeilage to slide in at HP.

Saints do the double over Chippers

Match report for 4^th May 2002

Game 3: Orrell Chippers 4 Vs 13 Manchester Saints (Pony Division)

Saints opened the batting at the Runcorn ground who hosted Orrell’s home game for the second meeting, with 8 of the order AB taking the full five runs from Chippers opener, pitcher Adam Dickinson with only 2 outs. Jonny Woodall pitched for Manchester giving up 1 hit from 18 AB’s, 4 BB’s and 6K’s, backed up by a strong and confident infield. Making no errors MBC kept the Chippers score to 2 after 5 innings.

Kurt Bubenzer hit the only run of the third as he led the innings with a home run well beyond the boundary. The first HR of his career and of the MBC pony season. Now he knows where the sweet spot is !

Karim Ariane led the offensive with 3 hits from 4 PA’s, Saxton & Bubenzer 2 runs, and the younger players David McNeilage, brothers Mike & David Gaskell all scoring 2 runs each. David G getting  100% on base, but was LOB twice. Ciaran Mulvenna got on base twice with walk and a hit but failed to get on the scoreboard after not tagging up on a fly to RF. He did however notch up his first RBI.

Karim closed with 2K’s and only gave up 1 hit and 1 walk, as Saints took 5 runs in the 7^th finishing as strong as they started.

Kurt Bubenzer, first HR of his career
The smile says it all !

Match report for 18^th May 2002

Game 5 : Manchester Vs Birmigham (Pony Divison)

Birmingham could not raise a team and had to concede this fixture.

Saints make the grade in first game of the season.

Match report for 13^th April 2002

Game 1: Runcorn Jets 6 Vs Manchester Saints 23 (Bronco Divison)

With a nervous start and a team full of rookies the Manchester Saints Bronco Baseball team took the field with volunteer catcher David McNeilage behind the plate and David Gaskell as starting pitcher, with only 2 runs given up it was the Saints turn to bat. With good solid hitting the maximum of 5 runs in the innings was reached setting the game up nicely. Rookie pitcher Shaun McNeilage pitched innings 3 and 4 giving up no runs with a notable double play executed by David McNeilage now playing 2^nd base and Asa Carney on 1^st

With excellent base running and continued controlled batting it was just the start the Saints needed.

Match report for 27^th April 2002

Game 2: Preston 7 Vs Manchester 1 (Bronco Divison)

With clouds everywhere off we went to Preston for game 2.

Conditions were cold and wet; taking the field for a quick warm up session the heavens opened soaking all our players and leaving the pitch a little wet. Having raced to the club house all the lads were now wet and cold. Once the rain stopped

Preston took the field to warm up. After finding out that Anthony Warwick was pitching for Preston (one of the best pitchers in the league), our heads went down.

Anthony gave nothing away, leaving us with no runs at the end of our first at bat.

With Preston up next, our ace pitcher David McNeilage was on the mound with

James Eaton making a welcome return behind the plate after his paralysing illness.

David only gave up 2 runs in the first innings, keeping us in with a shout. With Preston keeping the pressure on and again not giving up any runs in the second, they came up to bat, with David pitching well but not getting the calls and the ball just where he wanted it, combined with a dubious call at home plate, simple fielding errors, 5 runs had been given up. With the 3^rd innings came our wake up as the temperature rose and the sun managed to break through the clouds every now and then we started to play, we were now getting players on base, although no runs where scored we looked less intimidated. David put all his frustrations behind him and finished the next 2 innings with the loss of no runs and lots of strikeouts. With the mandatory change in pitcher, came our chance with players now getting on base, but we just couldn’t get the runs. Sean McNeilage replaced David on the mound, following in his brothers footsteps pitching giving up no runs, helped by Jack Muskett with a great tag out play at 3^rd base. David McNeilage scored our only run of the game, special note that the best 2 hits of the game David McNeilage and James Eaton, David hitting over 2^nd to centre field, just dropping short of the out stretched hand of the fielder. James not having quite the same luck hitting big over 2^nd to deep centre but coming down right on the fielder giving him a good catch.

Saints too strong for Jets

Match report for 4^th May 2002

Game 3: Runcorn Jets 0 Vs Manchester 31 (Bronco Divison)

After the week before the team needed a good start, batting first we aimed to get some runs. Although short of players it was decided to play with the 8-team members we had. David Gaskell opened getting on base, with Sean McNeilage, Patrick Conneely also doing the same. David McNeilage up next brought home our first runs at the end of the first innings we had 3 runs. With David McNeilage on the mound the Jets began, David striking out the first batter, after making a couple of fielding errors the Jets had men in scoring positions. After Jack Muskett tagged the runner at 3^rd and James Eaton had thrown the 4^th batter out at 1^st it was all over. So to the second innings with David, Sean, Patrick, David and Lewis all getting runs. With the Jets next 3 batters retired for no score, we were up again with 2 well hit balls one to 1^st and one to right centre we had lost our first 2 batters, was this going to be a turning point, Sean with a good hit was the first on base then followed Patrick, David McNeilage, and Lewis after the catcher dropped the ball and didn’t tag him, with good base running we had turned the innings back in our favour with James bringing in the 5^th run with a 2 base hit, David McNeilage continuing on the mound giving up no runs it looked as though we had it won. The 4^th gave us 2 more runs, with no reply. Maximum runs were scored in the 5^th again with no reply as David Gaskell carried on where David McNeilage had finished. The 6^th inning (open) brought 11runs with no outs with every one getting a run. At this stage it was felt the Jets couldn’t get Manchester out without giving up many more runs. The Jets conceded the game.

Match report for 11^th May 2002

Game 4 : Manchester 11 Vs Cartmel 0 (Bronco Divison)

On a nice sunny day at the Manchester Field, the scene was set, after last years games ending in 2 wins each, we new this was going to be interesting.

It was decided to start with David McNeilage at pitch to see if we could get ahead. David pitched 4 innings for no runs, with David Gaskell pitching the 5th and 6th again giving up no runs helped in part by a great catch by newcomer Danny out in centre field and finished off with a great double play. Scoring in every innings Manchester moved on and on with good hits by David and Sean McNeilage, James Eaton and good base running by all the team. Congratulations also to another newcomer Jonathan for his first solid hit getting on base. With Lyndon Fox covering well from right field, Asa Carney and Jack Muskett doing a good job at 1st and 3rd it was a good team performance.

Match report for 18^th May 2002

Game 5 : Manchester Vs Birmigham (Bronco Divison)

Birmingham could not raise a team and had to concede this fixture.

Results for Rookie tournament 1 on the 20th April 2002

Saints 22 Runcorn Jets 9
Saints 16 St Gregory's Red Hats 15
Saints 23 Halton Polecats 6

In the first game vs Runcorn Jets; Asa hit a home run and new outfielder, Laurie, made a great catch as the Saints beat the Jets with a great 1st innings.

In the second game against the Red Hats from Liverpool, we had a really close game. In the first two innings we were behind, needing at least 6 runs to win, going into the last innings. Dane Carney pulled off a triple play, catching the ball, tagging a runner and throwing to Asa Carney to get the last out. Mark our new catcher, also pulled off some great catches behind the plate.

In the third game vs the Polecats, Tom Conneely hit a triple to start the game off well for the Saints. Mark again played well at catch, while the all new outfield of Sam Goddard, Tom Eckersall and Laurie Goddard did very well. Asa Carney hit a grand slam home run in all three innings to end a great day for the Saints Rookies.

Results for Rookie tournament 2 held in Cartmel on the 4th May 2002

Saints 19 St Gregory's Red Hats 1st team 11
Saints 12 Halton Polecats 14
Saints 25 St Gregory's Red Hats 2nd team 12
Saints 19 Cartmel 10

In game one Asa Carney hit one home run. Tom Conneely hit three triples, as the Saints started the day with a win.

In game two we lost our first game of the season to the Polecats. We never really got any breaks in this game; our fielding wasn't up to the high standard we had set in the previous games, all the same, we only lost by two runs and pushed the Polecats all the way to the end.

In game three we had a first home run for Tom Conneely. We also had two more home run hits from Asa Carney. Dane Carney made two great catches at pitch.

In game four we played the hosts Cartmel. Sam our veteran third baseman made some great plays, as did Dane at pitch, as we shut down the Cartmel Offence. The whole team scored a run in a great team effort.

Results for Rookie tournament 3 held at Manchester on the 18th May 2002

Saints 15 Halton Polecats 10
Saints 18 Cartmel 8

In game 1 against the Polecats went very well with all the team scoring. We had two double plays from Asa and Dane. There were also first runs for Tom, our new outfielder, and Chris, also playing outfield.

In game 2, Tom Conneely made an excellent triple play. Christian made 2 throws from the outfield to get runners out at the plate, where Mark our catcher played excellently. The game included two home runs from Asa playing first base. Sam our third baseman won the MVP award from the visiting Cartmel team, for some excellent throws from third to first. Robyn our new outfielder scored her first run in her first game, to end a great day for the Saints Rookies.

Results for Rookie tournament 4 held in Runcorn on the 1st June 2002

MBC Saints 21 St Gregory's Red Hats 15
MBC Saints 23 Halton Polecats 13
MBC Saints 21 Cartmel Cubs 14

Game 1 vs Red Hats
Asa Carney 1 home run
Tom Conneely 3 base hits
Sam Roberts 3 doubles
Dane Carney 1 double
Lewis 1 double
Chris 1 base hit
Robyn Tracey 2 base hits
Sam Goddard 2 base hits
Loz Goddard 3 base hits
Mark 2 base hits
MBC Saints started off with a good team effort vs the Red Hats, all the team fielding well.

Game 2 vs Polecats
Asa Carney hit 3 homers including a grand slam. Tom Conneely hit 3 base hits as did Chris, Robyn, Sam Goddard, Loz Goddard and Mark the catcher. Sam Roberts hit three doubles, Dane Carney hit 1 double as did Lewis Eaton. Lewis playing short stop made some great plays as did catcher Mark. MBC Saints nearly scored the maximum in every inning.

Game 3 v Cartmel
Asa Carney hit 2 home runs and pulled off an unassisted triple play in the second inning. Sam Roberts hit 2 doubles, Lewis Eaton hit 1 double, Dane and Asa made a double play in the third. All MBC Saints got at least 3 base hits each, ending the day with another good win as well as winning the tournament.

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