Masters keep their mojo

We started with Glen on the mound and as most of the times, he looked good. The problem is, he’s batting is not looking the same at the moment. I think for this season he’s bat has more kisses that actual hits. Overs played right field again and to all our surprise looked very good. No errors, and didn’t look uncomfortable at all.

Only because not one ball was hit to rightfield. Alghamdurilah. Charlie hit a gorgeous homerun and looked very sharp at shorts top. Yusuf had bases loaded and hit an absolutely fantastic linedrive, about 2 metres short of the fence which would have been his first grandslam.However it did clear the bases and turned out to be a three base hit.

Overs had the same opportunity, but looked no where near. Adam made a welcome comeback in his first game with 2 at bat’s and 2 strike outs. He was the first and the third out in one inning.Welcome back Adam. He even made Glen look good. We could have had a shutout, but Glen dropped a routine flyball as he got a hectic kak out session from the coach. Somma on the field infront of everyone.

I would have dealt with it slightly differently though. I would have taken him into the bushes and beat the crap out of him. I guess we all different. A lekka game with lekka laughs as always. This is why I still play baseball at the tender age of 49.Because I have team mates like these. Final score VOB 18-1 PIRATES.

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32 – 12, Now what did the Masters do vs Bellville

Belville vs VOB. After the Springboks won the World Cup everybody arrived at the field in good spirit. Ooh, besides the few All Black supporters. And it showed in their game as well. First inning we went up by 15 runs as the guys went bos with the bat. Hadley was on pitching duty and was on point. Once again we had a full nine players on the bench and the coach started making changes somma in the first inning. And then I personally think the coach made a mistake in bringing on OVERS AND WEEDER. Weeder had two turns at bat, was struck out and picked off at first. That’s the first pick off we’ve had this season, and I think it may be the only one. Now Mr Overmeyer is another story. He got struck out twice, then was sent to the right field, then looked like he was in a slow motion movie when the ball was hit his way. Balls dropped around him which most under 10’s would catch. Unfortunately we had no more players to replace him so we had to watch this guy bat and field in absolute pain. It just looked mossag. Almost like the All Blacks exit in the World Cup. Bailey made his season debut and looked like he never left. Leading off the hitting and pulled off a bunt, that not even the All Blacks would have picked up. Game was played in good spirit, Overs and Weeder looked a bietjie backwards, but I’m sure they will come back.

Final score Belville 3-18 VOB.

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Slugfest at Goodwood – Masters win 26-13

Goodwood vs VOB.
Opening day and we somma started with a drama filled game. Yusuf Daniels looking very tired on the mound as Goodwood went off to a great start. Our guys were clearly a bit rusty as we somehow struggled to string together hits against their pitcher.

We were 12 – 5 down at one stage with the game almost done.And then the guys woke up and in the final inning we made it 12 – 12 and the game went into extra innings. We were 2 down and then out of nowhere the team that we all know came to play. Glen Joseph came on to replace Yusuf and did an excellent job at one stage and as the top hitter at the IPT, didn’t dissapointed.

The hits started flowing out of no where and when we looked again we scored 16 runs. And this all on two down. There were quite a few homeruns by our guys who finally decided to skrik wakker. By now Goodwoods hearts were broken and just like that we came back. A very stressful game as we woke up very late, but we showed our metal and coach Owen had so much to choose from on the bench, and that’s the difference between us and most teams. All and all a fun filled day with some seriously crazy people with never a dull moment. Oh ja, Wayne Repepi was also there.

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The Battle of the Bulge.. Masters take on Battswood.

VOB vs Battswood. HADLEY made an appearance as our starting pitcher after being out for quite a few months. Solid start by him but Battswood had the lead in the second inning leading us by 5-3.It looked like it was going to be one of those games where all our solid hits went straight to their fielders. Charlie leading off with absolutely no idea what a leadoff role is hits the second ball for a homerun. To make things even worse, hes second at bat he hits another homerun.

Bradley Weeder also hitting a long one having a great day with the bat. Overs also, wait, sorry I can’t remember Overs doing much in this game but I think he hit a triple. No, sorry not sure, can’t remember. Ag, it doesn’t matter. So Overs was also at the field. Everybody contributed in some way with the bat which saw us pushing away from Battswood in the last inning. Yusuf with a beatiful pop up line drive to left field with two RBIs.

Adie came to close and now had a nice cushion and finished very strongly. Play of the day has to be Shaun with two outstanding plays at shorts top that got us out of the one inning in no time. Allister also with a beautiful double play, strike out and pick off to second base showing his strong arm and accurate throwing. Yusuf handled that pick off like the ninja we know he is and tagged the runner 10 metres short of second base.Yusuf had a bunt moment which one would expect a guy like Overs would do. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.

Fantastic comeback by a bunch of individuals with four hundred and seventy eleven personalities. But that is what makes this team so interesting. Laughter and drinks were flowing after a great game of baseball. VOB 13-6BATTSWOOD.

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Right Field spot up for grabs? Masters beat Durbanville.

 It was a scorcher in Durbanville as Glen started the pitching and kept the opponents at bay. The bat’s came out firing AGAIN as we we scored 6 runs in the first inning. Not so much Yusufs bat though. He’s bat looked a bit moeg. The 2nd inning was where we actually broke the back of our opponents and scored 12 runs. Some great hitting by most especially Charlie, Tyron with a homerun and Adie with a homerun as well. The other hits were shared amongst all.

Bailey came on to pitch in the 3rd inning and got us two quick outs. And this is where things got a little interesting. I’m not gonna mention any names, but our quota player made an error which would have gotten Bailey out of there with no runs scored. Instead Durbanville ended up scoring 9 runs after that which made the game look a lot tighter than it actually was.

The highlite of the game has to be Mr Overmeyer who played rightfield and obviously thought that it was a stationary position.Daai ding het nie gemoove nie. Anything that was hit his way our poor centre fielder had to run for. And he was still stationary. Don’t ask me why. I just saw Bradley drop kick his glove about 40 metres out of frustration for our rightfielder. I think about 5 of those 9 runs came from the right field side.Coach will have to rethink that position. 😂Adie finished the game in style by closing down the opponents.

Another day filled with laughter and some lekka baseball. Final score Durbanville 11-18 VOB.

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Masters still got their mojo as they beat Pirates 23 – 8

VOB vs Pirates.It was a day of surprises as Wayne Ripepi started at 1st base showing Haliem how its done.Its only a pity that he stopped all the balls with his body. Who needs a glove.Pirates surprised us as they went ahead 8-4 at the end of the second inning.

A few errors made our starting pitcher Earl Pentolfe pull a hamstring from all the stress.Bradley Weeder adding a little to that stress running past a ball in centre field. Kulpy would have died if he had to witness that.

Nigel hitting a homerun was one of the highlites. The only reason however that was a homerun is because he had Yusuf and Tyron infront of him on the bases.With a few other guys on base it would have been a routine double.Ricky was solid with the bat hitting 3-3 while Tyron was also 3-3 pop ups to the catcher.Not he’s best batting display.

Who, ME???

But the highlite surely has to be Yusuf (good hair) Daniels coming on as relief pitcher throwing a no hitter for the next 3 innings.One of those innings was a new club record with only 4 pitches. Well done Yusuf and please feel free to share some of that expensive gel with your team mates for the photos.

All and all a great game full of fun and laughter as always with teamspirit you won’t find anywhere else.

No other way we would want to spend our Saturday afternoons.

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Masters end with a bang in Chukker rd Derby.

So we ended the 2018 season with a bang. And if you don’t believe me, just ask Lansdowne.We piled up about 15 hits in the first inning, scoring 11 runs which forced Lansdowne to make 3 pitching changes. And all of this was still in the first inning. Never seen this before.

Glen Joseph got the nod and pitched like the Glen we know and only gave up 3 runs throughout the entire game.Our 2nd base had an excellent game. Can’t remember his name.

But surely the lowlite has to be Overmeyer being picked off at 1st base with their first baseman hiding the ball in his glove.Not one of his best moments.

Kulpy also finally preforming with the bat. He says he only performs at the bigger games. 🙈.It sure didn’t look like a big game as we smashed Lansdowne in the first inning. I have never seen such a batting performance from a VOB masters team at the beginning of a game.Was epic. Hits all round.

We wish everybody an amazing Christmas and a wonderful new year and please stay safe.
Final score VOB 14-3 Lansdowne.

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Masters maul Silvertree 8-0

We played at our home ground for the first time since the season started. God is great. Glen Joseph got the nod as our pitcher on the day and did a sterling job throwing a shutout. . Apparently not according to self appointed pitching coach Shaun Elliot who wanted to jerk him in the first inning after striking out the first two hitters then throwing two balls. Yep, it’s tough being in the Masters pitching rotation.

The hitting highlites was definitely Mark hitting a massive 3 run homerun clearing the left field fence by quite some distance. The fielding highlites belongs to Nigel who took an absolutely amazing catch in rightfield then throwing out the runner at 3rd.Brekkerag mos. Some of the guys were struggling a bit with the bat, but due to safety reasons I shall not mention any names.

Coach Jimmy once again had a massive headache as he had a tough time selecting a team from 20 odd players. Yes we’re struggling with the numbers.

All and all a good game all round with lots of laughter and good baseball. And the guava juice was flowing after the game as per usual. Final score was VOB 8-0 Silvertree.

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Masters just go down to A’s 7-9

VOB vs A’s.

After the heat in Stellenbosch the day before, very cool conditions at Batswood field saw A’s take a first inning lead scoring 4 runs.

Hadley throwing for us first got off to a decent start, but apparently had some issues with the Umpire. (like the Umpire gets paid). Never the less, our bat’s were not firing at the beginning as we know it can and A’s put some hits together in just about every inning that kept them ahead of us all the time.

We left bases load on two occasions which could maybe be the difference between a win and a loss. Bradley Weeder hit a massive homerun into the wind which was very impressive.We started hitting better in the last inning and unfortunately came up short.

Adie closed rather impressively having a good closing stint. Maybe with better umpiring we could have won the game, and maybe Glen will one day go to Mosque. What’s the chance. I think we lacked on the having fun side a little and it showed in our game. Lesson is, you win some, you lose some and try having fun either way. Final score 9-7 to A’s.

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Masters bats bring on the heat. 13-10

Van der Stel vs VOB. It was rather hot in STELLENBOSCH and our bat’s started just about the same as the weather. Some early runs on the board and great pitching by Ruaan got us off to a great start.

Michael Kulp showing off by hitting two homeruns in his first two at bat. It only just cleared the fence though. We were going well until the selectors in Kevin Johnson and Janine Johnson pitched up and some of the guys showed some nervous moments. Obviously trying to impress the selectors.

New player Alun had a solid game and looked like he fitted into the setup just fine. We left quite a few runners on base and fell off to sleep a little and they came right back at us.

The game went into an extra inning, and then we decided to show them just where we actually came from. We scored five runs in that inning which was enough for us to win the game. Contributions all round.

We had about 19 players and Coach Jimi looked like he had his hands full with making changes. Most guys got a game though and welcome to Marc Ernstein for making a guess appearance in a uniform from back when PV Botha was still president. Final score 10 – 13 to VOB. Lotsa laughs and lotsa fun. Ready for tomorrow.

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