Macaws u15’s continue their W-streak against Neighbour’s.

The young Macaws were “on the road” to their neighbor’s, Battswood baseball club, on Saturday. This was our only “loss” of the season so far when Battswood claimed the points due to us ending with 6 players even though we out scored them convincingly on that day. The kids were ready for the return match to avenge their “loss”.

The day started with the twins, Jade and Josh November, celebrating their birthdays in the best way possible; by being at the ballpark LOL. After the team sang to wish the twins, the hitters immediately went to work against Battswood’s pitchers. 8 batters and 4 runs later we had a good foundation to work from.
Mikhaeel “Mickey” de Bruin again got the start on the hill. After Micky made an error on the first hitter, he let that upset his rhythm and allowed a few hits to end the first inning with Battswood replying with 3 runs. Was this going to be a tight ballgame?? The hitters had other ideas and smashed the Battswood pitching, scoring 5 runs to go 9-3 up. Mickey then settled beautifully and kept Battswood scoreless for the next two innings while the Macaws scored row more. By the end of the fourth inning the Macaws led 11-4 and Mickey was replaced by Promise Khamula. Over the past two games Promise had been very shaky, not trusting his stuff. This time, though, he seemed a little more focused and, after giving up one run, shut the Battswood hitters down. The Macaws hitters continued their onslaught scoring 4 more runs to eventually win 15-5.

Mickey threw 57 pitches in four completed innings which was brilliant.
Promise threw 14 pitches in one inning to close out the game.

Best hitters were Jemaile Mohamed 4-4,2x2B), Josh November (3-4) and Josh Smith (1-3).

Good performance from the pitchers laid the foundation for this win.

We keep on rolling!

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Macaws u15’s walk it off against A’s

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!

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Macaws u15’s continue rolling against Yankees

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.

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VOB u15’s take down unbeaten Crusaders in Grassy Park

The young Macaws were on the road to Grassy Park to take on the unbeaten crusaders team. As expected Crusaders started the game with the same pitcher as every other week so far. The Macaws started with Promise Khamula, only his second pitching stint ever.

Promise was very nervous and struggled to throw strikes but managed to complete the inning exceeding only 2 runs. Against the hard throwing crusaders pitcher the Macaws, even though they struck out to high swings, they did a great job of stretching the pitch count and by the end of the third inning the crusaders pitchers had already thrown 65 pitches. By this stage Promise has been replaced by Mikhaeel de Bruin, who battled hard and only allowed one further run.
At the start of the 4th inning Crusaders were ahead 3-0 when all sorts of drama took place with the Crusaders coach not wanting to follow new rules set by CTBF. After a prolonged stoppage it was decided that the game would continue without changes. Unfortunately for Crusaders their coach’s decision backfired badly as their next pitcher struggled badly. The Macaws then smelt blood and went for the kill scoring 5 runs. Crusaders managed to score two more runs before Josh November was brought on to close the game.
VOB scored 3 more runs in the 5th while November easily handled the Crusaders top order for a killer 8-5 come-from-behind win.

This young VOB team will get better and better as the season goes and it’s great to see young players eager to learn, train and play.

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VOB u15’s continue their winning run against Silvertree

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.

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VOB u15’s take down the Saints…

VOB u15’s take down the Saints from Ocean View in 18-0 rout.

It was the first meeting between these two teams since Ocean view were formed and the gulf between them was huge. Even though VOB has a mix of really good players and very young players, they easily outclassed the Saints.
VOB’s Promise Khamula started for the second week in a row even though he has never pitched before. His pitching is already growing in leaps and bounds even though he is only touching the surface of what he is capable of. This week he got through 2.2 innings, without conceding a run, before he was replaced by Josh November. Josh completed the game without any runs being scored for the 18-0 shut out.

However, it was the VOB hitters that were in fire in this one smashing everything that they could. Leading the charge was Jaime Brookes who went 4-4 with 3x3B and a double for a massive 11 total bases on the day. Not to be outdone, Jared Riffel went 3-3 with 2 HR’s. In his first game back from soccer, Jermaine Mohammed scorched 2 doubles and a homerun of his own. That was the 3-4-5 hitters and they did all the BIG damage. Notable mentions must go to 12 year old Talun Davies who was so terrified of playing u15 baseball that he threatened to quit baseball last week if he was forced to play. This week he plays and gets two good hits – well done young man. And lastly, the fair maiden on our team, Jade November, who has two good hits of her own and had the biggest smile each time she reached base, well done.

This team will get better as the season progresses as they love training and learning. Onwards and upwards.

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U15’s vs Battswood No result

Coming to the field on Saturday we knew that we would be short of numbers as we still have a few players finishing off their winter sport and were unavailable till next weekend. This did not dampen the spirits of those who have been training because they were told that we would be playing, irrespective how many players we had. We hosted our neighbours Battswood who rocked up with 27 players compared to our 6. We then had two u12’s, Jaedon Jonathan and Caleb bell, who jumped at the opportunity to play another game before their u12 game. I informed the opposition coach that we had 8 which meant we could legally play and I also warned him that we would probably be leading them by the time the u12’s would leave for their game – he laughed!

Promise was told that he would be starting the pitching and his immediate reaction was “I can’t pitch coach”. He was the told that if he can throw a ball, he can pitch. And what a debut it was. He blew the Battswood hitters away and grew in confidence as the game unfolded. It helped that his catcher, Josh Smith, was solid behind the plate and worked hard. We shocked Battswood by taking the lead from the very first inning and never let them back in the game. By the time Josh November relieved Promise, it was game over because the fireworks was coming. November blew the batters hitters away and any hope that they had faded quickly. When it was time for the u12’s to leave for their game our game was about halfway which meant we never had enough players to constitute a legal game. Even with 6 players they still could not score, but their coach was determined to get the result.

We settled on a 6-5 win for Battswood (versus a default result) even though we scored 15 runs in the game compared to their 3. That’s is how strong our players were on the day. A special mention to Caleb Bell’s great defensive play at 2B and welcome back to Jade November to baseball. This is going to be a fun season for these kids.  
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VOB 7 – 6 Athlone Athletics (A’s)

A game dubbed, by the players, as “the biggest for the season” saw an almost full training squad, grinding on both Wednesday & Friday training sessions to work off the festive season eats…
Although still in holiday mode, there had been quite a bit of excitement leading up to this game as A’s have only had 1 loss for the season and are considered to be 1 of the strongest teams in the u15 league.
Due to a mishap on A’s “B-field” which was scheduled to host this clash, the game had to be delayed by 30mins. This seemed to have put our kids in a very relaxed mode. So relaxed that in the 1st frame, 1 of them forgot to bat. Unfortunately, the beginning of the game was no different to majority of their games for the season with the kids only waking up in the 3rd & 4th frames and by this time, they were already 6-1 down. A quick pep-talk and some serious motivation from their adoring fans behind 3rd base/home plate and they manged to find the “ON” switch.


WOW…..what a turn around. These kids decided to play VOB baseball…and then some! Taking advantage where ever they could to get runners on and move the runners over that by the time it was side away, the coach was so excited that he didn’t even realize they had gone ahead by 1 run. This meant there were just 3 more outs that had to be made to end the ballgame but it seemed like the excitement got the better of the players and after a few “brain-farts” had found themselves with 2 outs and runners on 2nd & 3rd base but then managed to dig a little deeper and get that last out for the win.
If this is what these kids are capable of while still in a very relaxed holiday mode, I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season has in store.
Good luck to the boys taking part in the District tournament this weekend…go make us proud!

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Another good day of baseball for the 15’s. DBV 2 – VOB 16

The squad was considerably smaller than previous weeks…with 13 players. The great trek to Durbanville meant a really early start to the day but everybody was in high spirits.

We hit 1st and with some great discipline batting, managed to load the bases with no outs, but somehow only managed to score 1 run This left the coaches a bit worried due to a dismal team performance at training the evening before. This was to be the last of the worries though as the kids found their “groove” with Rio managing a fantastic 1st frame from the mound and keeping Durbanville scoreless. 2nd batting turn was when they remembered how to play “VOB Baseball” & 5 runs were quickly scored. The next 2 frames were pretty much the same with Ghameem showing how the extra hitting with dad has helped by hitting a line drive over the 2nd basemen.

A pitching change with bases loaded & 2 outs, brought the composure we saw from Mikaeel last week, to the mound as helped his team get out the frame with just 1 pitch. 4 changes over 2 frames showed, once again, how hungry these kids are 2 be on the field. Even in their last batting turn and being quite a few runs ahead, they were still disciplined enough not to swing at bad pitches. With this, they managed to score 2 runs while still leaving bases loaded before Jamie, for the 3rd week running, got a hit to rightfield but this time scoring 3 runs.

Our last fielding turn proved to be extremely entertaining. This was finished off by the batter hitting a screamer straight back at Mikaeel on the mound and it clipping his glove to allow Josh November a very smooth barehand pickup to make the final out of the game.

The coaches are extremely proud of these kids as they continue to get better every week and show so much love for the game. The hard work being put in is really showing.

Wishing you all an amazing festive season and looking forward to what 2019 will bring our U15 team on the field.

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AND THEN THEY ALL WOKE UP! – 15’s come from behind vs Maitland.

With Wednesday evening training being cancelled due to exams, Friday training seemed to be a bit difficult for the u15s. Unfortunately, this ‘difficult’ period carried into the start of the game on Saturday against an unbeaten team. Jamie “but my slippers are navy blue coach” Brookes got his 1st start for the season throwing to Josh “I’m more tired than Jared” Smith who also had his 1st game behind the plate.

Things didn’t go as we would have liked, and Giants managed to get 5 runs in their 1st batting turn. VOB’s batting was no where close to the standard that was set in previous weeks and was back to fielding without bringing in any runs. Josh November came on to replace Jamie in the 2nd inning and once again, did a fantastic job. The teams bats weren’t quite switched on just yet as it seemed they were in the mood to give the coach a few more grey hairs (not cool)…..AND THEN THEY ALL WOKE UP!

The necessary plays were made to keep Giants scoreless and then everybody started swinging the bat so aggressively Mikaeel De Bruyn decided to swing at a pitch the same height as his head to clear the right outfielder. Going in to the top of the 5th at 11-6 up, a quick 3 up, 3 down saw everybody run off the field with a smile. Rio Harrison giving his dad a perfect birthday present by taking a fantastic diving catch at shortstop to end the 4th frame and a good strong throw to make the 3rd out to end the game in the 5th.

Well done to these awesome u15s who are showing more & more character and love for the game as the we get further into the season.

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