The young Macaws were back at Chukker Road to host Athlone A’s, their southern suburbs rivals, who have been strong this year so far.
This young team have become resilient and do not get affected if their better players are not available to play. They just move on and the next player tries to take their opportunity.

MIkhaeel “Mickey” de Bruin got the start this week and was opposed by A’s ace Uzair Taliep. Both pitchers struggled with pitch counts in the first inning with Mickey racking up 39 pitches while conceding 5 runs. That one inning was all he saw as Promise Khamula replaced him at the beginning of the second inning. For a second time in two games Promise struggled with his control and was replaced after three hitters by Josh November.

By this stage A’s had a healthy 6-1 lead, but this Macaws team knows that the game is never over unless they quit, which they do not. Steadily chipping away at the A’s lead while November kept A’s scoreless, the Macaws found themselves 7-5 down at the beginning of the last inning when Jaime Brookes replaces November. Jaime mowed down the A’s lineup facing three hitters, striking all out in 10 pitches.

Now it was up to the hitters to do their job! Fortunately the top order was up and A’s were down to their third pitcher by this stage. Leadoff Jermaine Mohamed got on with a walk followed by Josh November with a second walk. Two stolen bases put them in scoring position and Brookes then smashed one to the outfield scoring both and tying the game. Now it was Josh Smith’s turn to be a hero and duly responded scoring Brookes to walk it off in dramatic fashion against a disappointed A’s who saw this one slip away.

Best hitters were Jaime (3-3,BB,2B), Josh November (1-2, 2BB’s), Josh Smith (2-3, BB) and Promise (1-3).

Great character from the Macaws while having two players on the injured list (Nur Scelo and Jared Riffel) and then losing a third during the game to a school appointment (Mickey), but that just gave u12 player Caleb Bell an opportunity to play more than half the game.

We keep on rolling!

Macaws u15’s continue rolling against Yankees

The young Macaws were back on the road, this time to Mitchell’s Plain to face westridge yankees. The young Macaws showed their intentions by scoring 4 runs in the first inning with Josh Smith (double) and Lee Adams (triple) leading the charge. Young Mikhaeel de Bruin got the start and, after giving up a leadoff walk, he mowed down the next three to finish the inning quickly. In the second inning the Macaws benefitted from a struggling Yankees pitches and scored 5 more runs from 5 walks and a couple of hits.

Micky continued where he left off and was one out away from another scoreless inning when and fly ball error allowed Yankees to score a run. Instead of being out of the inning Micky was replaced due to reaching his pitch count limit as set before the game. Josh November came on to strike out the third hitter in 3 pitches.

Yankees brought on a lefty young girl who did well initially by keeping the Macaws scoreless for two innings. However in the 5th inning, on two outs, the Macaws found their rhythm and had four hits in a row to score 3 runs, taking their tally to 12 runs.

November easily dispatched of three Yankees hitters to finish the game 12-1 in VOB’s favour.

Lots of lessons for the young Macaws again, but lovely to learn while you are winning.

VOB hosted Silvertree on a cold Saturday morning. It seemed like Rugby fever took over with 4 players unavailable leaving us with 8 players, but this team now believe when they are told we play to win in every game, no matter what the circumstances.

This week the ball was given to Jaime Brookes for his pitching debut, the third different pitcher in three games. These players are not being surprised anymore when they are played in a position that they may not have before and the belief in doing a job for the team is growing. Jaime, who has a decent fastball but lacked control every now and again, pitched three good innings before he was replaced Mikhaeel “Mickey” de Bruin, who became the fourth pitcher in 3 games.

Mickey immediately got working by pounding the strike zone, which is exactly what the idea is behind the new rule changes in the second half of the game when the hitters start on 2-1 counts. As a first outing, Mickey was only allowed 40 pitches by the coach,’but he make full use and threw 28 of those pitches for strikes. The final pitching change brought Josh “the fireman” to close the game out with a 12 pitch inning.

On the hitting front the starter was also the power hitter. Jaime went 3-4 with a grand slam that easily cleared the fence as well as a triple. The other hitters who did well were Josh November (2-3, 2BB’s), Lee Adams (2-2, 2B, 2BB’s) and Mikhaeel de bruin (1-1, 3 BB’s).

Final score 9-4 in Macaws favour.

These guys and girl are learning nicely each week how the game needs to be played and are enjoying the challenges set for them each week. Even 8 versus 9 is no problem for this team.