Juniors

Seniors

This past weekend it was on the road for most of our teams, with only our new u15 Young Guns playing at home.
Our undefeated masters team travelled to Southfield to take on Silvertree, our undefeated u18’s was at neighbours Battswood while the rest of the teams were hosted by Durbanville Villians in the stifling heat of Durbanville.

After a successful last weekend our teams were keen to continue the upward momentum that has been evident this season so far.

Our club chairman, Kevin Johnson, has also brought more focus to our club by being appointed as the South African u15 head coach – well done!!

On to the weekend’s games!!

Youth teams

PeeWees vs Durbanville – Result: not important
The Peewees played Durbanville away and won the game 22 – 11. We managed to play 3 frames in the blistering heat and good batting was the order of the day. Our Peewees was just outstanding in the field. Rustem De Bruyn hit a homerun. Zeake Seller hit 2 homeruns and Caleb Abrahams hit 2 homeruns and took 3 catches. All nine batters scored runs in the last frame. Thanks parents for your support. Well done peewees for a good win.

U10’s vs Durbanville – Result: 30-20 (VOB)
The U10’s won Durbanville 30 – 20. We started the game with good batting scoring 8 runs in the first and second frame. The boys fielded well in the diamond and Durbanville’s only choice was to hit to the outfielders. Chad Pastor, Caleb Bell and Caleb Abrahams hit a homerun. Nur Scello, Tulan Davis and Storm Doyle hit 2 homeruns. Caleb Bell took 2 excellent catches off the bat at first base. My player of the day was Caleb Abrahams for hitting his first homerun in a U10 game and took 3 brilliant catches at pitcher. I want to thank the parents again for their good support today. Well done boys.

U12’s vs Durbanville – Result: 9-8 (Durbanville)
Having to be in Durbanville at 07h15 for our 8h15 game, seemed to be a bit early for some of the u12’s but after some encouraging words from coach Barry, they seemed ready to go. Being an away game, we batted first managed to get 2 runs on the board which gave the team some much needed confidence.
Fadiel was given his 1st pitching start for the season but looked as if he’d been doing it for months. Joshua Smith seemed to be very composed behind the plate as he didn’t stay at uncle Paul’s house Friday night and therefore got enough sleep.
Lots of discipline in the batter’s box by majority of the team and Shaun Sani’s 1st hit into the outfield allowed our 1st 5 run frame, for the season (u12’s using the 5 run, side away rule).
Mickey was handed the ball late in the game and did a superb job getting the ball over the plate and forcing hits to 2nd base where Fayaad happily fielded everything and put the runners out at 1st base.
Unfortunately, the excitement got the better of the team which resulted in a few costly errors, allowing Durbanville to also score 5 runs, leaving VOB 2 runs down in the last frame. They fought hard, but a few concentration lapses meant we only managed 1 run and therefore lost 8-9.

Once again, the enthusiasm of these boys was undeniably amazing and the improvement, as a team, is visible.

A special Thanks to Shanaaz, Tracey and Moerieda for the help. You ladies are awesome.

U14 Softball – No report received

U15 Senior Sluggers vs Durbanville – Result: 7-4 (VOB)
A nice outing to the Villians for the Sluggers as they walked away with 7-4 win. Aside from the heat that killed everyone our pitching staff slaughtered the opposition. Young Josh “51” November had an awesome outing going 3 innings before being replaced by Shakeel “stretch” Jattiem. Our closer Zinadene “Zizo” Rocks as always did an awesome job. Player of the day went to Alec Adonis hitting 3-3 and taking 4 outs from 3rd.

U15 Young Guns vs Silvertree – Result: 13-7 (VOB)
The game got off to a very slow start with both pitchers struggling to consistently struggling to find the strike zone. This saw us go down I the first inning. However, this did not stop the young guys and girls at all, as Lee threw his heart out on the mound, who was later replaced by Nicholas Jefferies. Our team fought from the first at bat to their very last, equalling Silvertree’s runs in the first inning. Our young guns did extremely well in the last inning of the game by shutting Silvertree and scoring an extra 5 runs to seal the victory for them. Jade November, got the base hit to right field in her last batting turn to score the fifth run, ending the game.
Many lessons were learned through this game and but each week, we can definitely see our players growing. Keep up the amazing work and Spirit and see you at the ball park in the week.

U18’s vs Battswood – Result: 12-9 (VOB)
A strong first innings was squandered, as Battswood were let back into the game, only for VOB U18’s to compose themselves, and, for the second time this season, pile on the pressure and the runs in the top of the last frame, and come away with the win.

Aggressive hitting and a couple of walks saw VOB U18 piling on the pressure in the top of the first and coming away with 4 runs as the top order scored off rbi’s from Luke Budler, Alex Japhta and Liam Willenberg. On the downside two runners were left behind in scoring position. Battswood showed they were not just going to lie down, driving in 2 runs in reply. 4 -2.

The second, third, and fourth saw VOB U18 leave five runners in scoring positions on base. VOB starter Johannes Ney had been very neat and tidy in the bottom of the second and third, facing only seven batters, but with the VOB hitters not doing their job, the door was still open. With one down in the bottom of the fourth, Battswood took advantage of Johannes’ first walk to work a very neat bunt play. A drive to left field saw Kian Africa come to the mound with bases loaded. After initially struggling, Kian righted the ship, but Battswood were 4 – 8.

A three up three down batting turn and VOB U18 were back out there. They settled, and closed out the bottom of the fifth comfortably. Still 4 -8, with the top orders of both team up and the clock showing only the sixth would be played.

VOB U18 No 9 Haydn Abrahams did his job and got on ahead of his top order, and then Luke Budler, Jesse Johnson, Jordyn Riffel, and Alex Japhta all collected hits and VOB U18 went ahead on Liam Willenberg’s single through the infield. Luke November then scored Liam, Josh Adonis and Haydn (his second run in the innings). 12 – 8. After an opening walk, Kian settled and Jordyn took responsibility, covering lots of ground to take to snag fly’s. Two down. Battswood tried to run to rally, stealing home to score with the battery focussed on getting the batter at the plate. K. Game over. 12 – 9 win.

Batting: Luke Budler 4 – 5, 1 rbi; Liam Willenburg 3 – 4, 2 rbi’s; Luke November 3 – 5, (1 double) 3 rbi’s; Jesse Johnson 1 -3 (1 x double), 2 rbi’s, 1 bb; Jordyn Riffel 1 – 3, 1 rbi’s; Haydn Abrahams 2 – 3, 2 BB 2 RBI; Alex Japhta 1 – 3, 2 rbi’s; Josh Adonis 0 – 1, 2 rbi’s.

Pitching: Johannes 3.1 innings, 4 K’s, 5 hit, 1 bb, 5 runs, 5 earned; Kian Africa (W) 2.2 innings, 2 K’s, 1 hits, 5 bb, 4 runs, 4 earned.

Thanks to “Liam’s mom Stephanie” for scoring.

Senior baseball teams

Masters vs Maitland Giants – Result: 19-3 (VOB)
Thank you Adie Langeveldt for bracing us with your presence and pitched the whole game. Great pitching. Homeruns by Adam and Shaheen was part of the run scoring fest. Bailey back with the bat, batting 1000.Hadley batting well. The bats were hot as always. Although their pitching was not very challenging to be fair. Everybody got a hit somewhere down the line and then there was Wayne. When Adie decided he was going to throw so the field can do some work, our centre fielder Ricky decided otherwise. But he almost caught the ball 4 times. Highlight was Ruan rounding third and tripping-rolling into 3rd being laughed at by Glen. Glen then decided to do a Ruan and went one better and did a double forward roll at the exact same spot and took out his shoulder. Lag nog!!! Let’s just say it was a you tube moment. Lotsa laughter and loads of fun with guys still Loving the game of Baseball.

MLR vs Durbanville – Result: 13-2 (VOB)
It was not the ideal preparation for the game, as the start of the game had to be delayed with players having to rush from the 18u game at Chucker road battling traffic. The Durbanville coaches were kind enough to agree to start the game a bit later to accommodate us.
A young Durbanville side showed grit early on against VOB that is starting to settle nicely. In the first inning, VOB managed one run and the Villians pulled one back immediately. Lee van Wyk started on the mound for VOB, and the lack of time for a warm-up may have assisted in allowing early runners on. He then went on to keep Durbanville scoreless for two more innings before Jesse Johnson replaced him.
VOB steadily accumulated runs throughout taking a 6-1 lead by the time Jesse took the mound in the fourth inning.
Durbanville battled with their pitching resources and VOB managed to capitalise on this in the top of the fifth inning. VOB batted through the order taking the score to 12-1, but Durbanville only managed to pull one run back taking the score to 12-2.
In the last inning, VOB managed another run but Durbanville could not manage to score after having the bases loaded ending the game at 13-2 to VOB.
Everyone contributed to the win, but the consistency shown by the pitchers ensured that the opposition had to earn their runs which they were unable to do.

ML vs Durbanville – Result: 16-6 (VOB)
Coming off a very emotional come- back win against A’s the week before, it was imperative to keep the focus and play good baseball against a young Villains team.
The game started with us storming out of the blocks with a 4run 1st. Josh Rich got the start this week and had a fairly comfortable 1st inning. 4-0
We added a run in the 2nd but had a sloppy bottom half of the 2nd, giving up 3 ER and 6 runs in total. That would be all for the villains on the day! The game lasted only 8 innings with us scoring in every inning but the 5th. Josh went on to pitch 3innings giving way to new boy Andy Orfanakos who pitched 2 scoreless innings with Kieran Moore coming on to pitch another 3 scoreless innings to close out the game.
While the pitching settled down, the boys broke out the bats, with the team combining for 17hits and 13 RBI’s on the day!
Paul Bell going 2-4 with 3 RBI’s, Jody Burch 2-5 with 2 RBI’s, Michael Scritten 2-4 with 2 RBI’s, Marc Quickfall 3-5 with 2 RBI’s, Altino Elliot 2-5 with 2 RBI’s and Grant Emmanual 1-1 with 3 RBI’s.
With all the hitting that has been going on, it is easy to miss the one really good aspect of our play over the last two weekends, we have now given up only two errors in two weeks which is a massive improvement in or defensive play and a testament to some of the hard work going on behind the scenes by the players and coaches.
With the high ceiling that this team possesses, we will be looking to keep the momentum going this weekend at home to a difficult Giants team.
See you at the ballpark!

Senior softball teams

SL – No reports received

2nd – No reports received

Anniversaries, birthdays, etc.
Adam Jaffer (14/11), Jesse Johnson (15/11), Rio Harrison (19/11), Randall Hendricks and Josh Adonis (20/11) all celebrate birthdays this week. Congratulations from the VOB family. Please don’t forget to let us know of any important dates so we can congratulate our members.

Events, Fundraisers, etc.
On Sunday 19/11/2017 from 11h30-13h30 we will be having our official club photoshoot as well as a boerewors fundraiser for club members who will get selected to represent WP this season. All players to come in club uniform as tem photos as well as a club photo will be taken.

Thought for the Week
All Life is a chance so take the chances that gets presented to you!! The person who makes the most of his/her chances, gets the furthest.

KEVIN JOHNSON