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Category Archives: From the Dugout

MaCaws beat down VDS with the next gen on show. 10-6

04
Nov
2018

Derick Smiling after his long homerun

The Macaws made the longest trip of the season down to Stellenbosch to face Van der Stel.

I was keen to see how this young team would respond to last weeks big loss to Bothasig.

Derick “Boy” Baylis got his chance to start and did not disappoint. Boy went 5 innings throwing only 71 pitches allowing 3 runs. Jesse johnson took over for his second ML pitching stint after his successful debut against Tygers two weeks ago. Not enjoying the big hole in the mound Jesse let that affect him and threw way too many balls in his 3.2 inning relief spell, but managed to keep VDS from coming back with some timely K’s. Jesse will have to learn how to handle the different obstacles if he is to be successful at this level as everything will not always be perfect. With two outs in the 9th Jesse was replaced by Zubair Larney who finished off the final hitter of the day with a K, proclaiming “why do pitchers make pitching so hard” LOL.

Talking about aggression and choices just before the bomb

On the hitting side what was very pleasing was the hard contact that was being made by the majority of the hitters, even if it did not always end in a hit. We also saw 3 homeruns in the game. Lance Gordon snuck one over a shortened right field before the fence was immediately moved further out. Jesse then followed with a long smash over left field for his maiden senior (not just ML) homerun. Not to be outdone, Derick followed his up double by launching one over the lengthened rightfield boundary. Luke squared (November and Budler) also got doubles on the day.

This very young team will learn every single week what they need to do if they are going to be successful in the majors, but they have already shown that they have the ability.

Our scorer Judy Beukes doing her selfless job brilliantly

The hard work continues this week in the hope of becoming consistent at this level.
Thanks, as always, to our behind the scenes scorer Judy Beukes for being the one constant scorer at VOB seniors.

No Comments 2018 11 03From the DugoutMajor League

12’s pack their bags and hit the road.. 9-6

04
Nov
2018

The start of a journey.

For me yesterday’s game was a watershed moment for the “the kids”. In every thing that happens in life comes from an action or a trigger. Yesterday it came from (to the naked eye an unlikely source) by chance because he was having a sleep over by a buddy and had to come to training with him… MO Maseko..

Leading off the third inning down 1 nil, MO drills the first pitch dead center way over the center fielders head that to me would have been an automatic home run and he legged out a triple. This action caused a raucous moment which “the kids” capitilised on and rode the wave with two more doubles( Talun and Jaedon) and a triple by catcher Nur Scello. All three of these hits were drives to right center. This had the supporters on the grandstand going crazy.

The real positive about this game was that we went down twice in the game and each time we fought back and took the lead. This shows the fight that these kids have. We had great pitching in really hot conditions from Jaedon and Talun. Jaedon with 3 innings 4 K’s 5 hits no walks. Talun 2 innings 1 bb and 1 k.

We had great baserunning and really good fielding whilst only making one error. “the kids” are figuring it out and the step from u10 till now is slowly diminishing. Out of my years of coaching I will admit that this process from taking tee ballers to u12 is hard. But we must all remember that it is a process that we need to understand. We cannot miss steps in the process. And we have to trust the process that we are giving to the kids.

And in saying this I believe that we have a great group of u12s coming through (and I am including some of the U10s that we have as well. The future is bright guys. Myself and Coach Jean are excited to be leading this process. But it’s not just us, we have had a great support staff.

I firstly would like to thank the amazing parents we have. You guys have been awesome. On the coaching part we have had instruction from u18 coach and catching expert Andrew Ball as well as senior player Lance Gordon. And parent help in the bench in Stanton and New masters shirt stop Alun. We appreciate it immensely.

Last point but I think it’s the most important one. I know that kids develop better when watching baseball and living it. Yesterday was a lovely example of our kids hanging around after they play and enjoying the day together. Playing in the cages, throwing bull pens, watching the games running around the stadium. Watching. Ire games. Talking to each other about their favorite senior players. They are starting to live the game. And that is where the real development happens. Not at training. But together learning fro. Each other and talking the game.

On that I say thank you to the parents again for allowing the kids to stay at the field after their game. Coach Paul and Coach jean

No Comments 2018 11 03From the DugoutUnder 12

Tens duke it out with VDS 37 – 22

04
Nov
2018

The U10’s played Van der Stel on Saturday in very hot conditions and won the game 37 – 22.

Both teams from the u12 boys fielded in the u10 game due to shortage of players namely Caleb Bell, Storm Doyle and Mo Maseko. Our batting was on top with the boys getting on bases.

The diamond players did their job in excellent stopping and not allowing VDS to reach bases. Rustum hit a solo homerun in the fifth frame. Storm Doyle hit two homeruns and a double, Caleb Bell enjoyed his batting as last batter hitting 4 homeruns, Mo Maseko hit two homeruns.

It was a well deserved win in the blistering heat.

No Comments 2018 11 03From the DugoutUnder 10

Masters bats bring on the heat. 13-10

03
Nov
2018

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.

No Comments 2018 11 03From the DugoutMasters

Softball Update

30
Oct
2018

Super League: VOB 5, Tantasport 9

After a dismal pre-season, we would have been satisfied to just put a team on the field, but we put in a solid, committed performance. And had it not been for two mistakes (not judgement related) by the relatively inexperienced umpires we might have ended up as victors.

Meghan pitched fairly well to Tracey, who did not look like someone who had hardly caught in a decade. The left side of our field failed to cope with difficult visual condition, the sun being low and bright, but we coped well with balls hit to the right.

Our offense was a bit patchy yet potent at times; failure to string hits together at the end hurt us. Mercedes, Tracey, and Carmenita all came up with key hits, keeping us constantly in the game.

Second League: VOB 2, Khayelitsha Super Stars 11;
6 players at seven on Saturday morning became a possible 10 at one, slipped to 7 at two, finally settled at 9 at ten past two, 7 of then juniors. And we started off playing that way, lethargically and (simple) error-prone.

When we woke up it was too late, though a last-inning rally could had radically reduced the deficit were it not for a base-running mistake. Manisha, Hannah and Zoe each had two hits.

Thanks to Chiamaka, Michelene, Nawaar, and Zahra to come to the game without any pre-season preparation.

No Comments From the DugoutSoftball

MLR succumb to the Sig

29
Oct
2018

The VOB Macaws reserves took on the reserves of the Bothasig Knights at the Chucker Road sports complex.

For VOB it was a bit of déjà vu as they let a commanding lead slip in the second half of the game, like they did the previous week, to hand the opposition the win. VOB opted to forfeit the points to allow Jayde Thorne to play so he could shake off some rust before representing South Africa in the inbound series against the French national team.

VOB started with Naeem Dollie on the mound. He kept Bothasig scoreless in the first inning and while VOB also failed to score. Dollie felt some discomfort in his shoulder and was replaced on the mound by Jayde Thorne at the top of the second. He restricted Bothasig to 2 runs in 3 innings while VOB scored 7 runs to take a 7-2 lead into the top of the 5th inning.

At the top of the 5th the heat got to Thorne as he conceded 3 more runs and left the bases loaded when Matthew Darius came on to relieve him. A series of unforced errors by VOB and some decent hitting by Bothasig saw them accumulate 10 runs in the final 2 innings. VOB was unable to score runs in the last few innings ending the game 7-12 in favour of Bothasig.

No Comments 2018 11 27From the DugoutMajor League Reserve

10’s deal with the heat and Bothasig

29
Oct
2018

U10’s played Bothasig on Saturday and won the game 15 – 3.

The boys took the field and restricted Bothasig too only one point in the first frame, good fielding and stopping in the diamond by Caleb Abrahams at second and Rustum De Bruyn and Donovan Pietersen at pitcher made the pegs to first base look easy where Zeake Seller took 5 outs on 1st base, the boys then restricted their opponents to no runs in the second and third frame.

Donovan Pietersen took 4 brilliant catches at pitcher position, Caleb Abrahams took 6 catches at second and Rustum De Bruyn 2 at short stop. The boys batted well this week against Bothasig. Zeake Seller impressed me with his catching on first base taking 11 catches in the game. Well done boys you deserved that win. 👏👏👏

1 Comment 2018 11 27From the DugoutUnder 10

15’s dig deep after ‘Sig fight back

29
Oct
2018

A very excited u15 side were at the field bright and early on Saturday for their first home game of the season. Still running on a high after the previous week’s, almost flawless performance.

A tough decision had to be made by the coaching staff as it’s never easy when there are 16 players in the squad.
The starting 9 got off to a bit of a “shaky” start conceding a run in the top of the 1st frame. After getting went to bat, easily scoring the max 5 runs.

Unfortunately, the top of the 2nd frame was to be no different than the first and the outs only came after another 2 runs were conceded. Our 2nd turn at bat proved to be a bit more difficult than the 1st as we were not able to score any runs.

It was only in the 3rd frame after a few changes were made that we buckled down on the field and managed to get all the outs without allowing in any runs. With only a 2-run lead, we needed to put a few more runs on the board but this wasn’t to be the case. Bothasig pulled together and shut down VOB’s innings easily, with no runs being scored.

Bothasig then did the unexpected and came back in the last frame to equal the score, which had all our players quite worried. Some disciplined VOB batting and fantastic base running. to capitalize on the very few errors made by Bothasig, saw VOB score 3 more runs before the game was called as we had reached our time limit. VOB 10 – 7 Bothasig

Thanks to Kevin, who selflessly umpired our game despite it being his birthday. Much appreciated!

No Comments 2018 11 27From the DugoutUnder 15

U12 beat down Bothasig in the heat

29
Oct
2018

This week the u12s got to play yet another game in the blistering heat. This time though we were much better prepared and it showed from the start of the game.

Starting pitcher Jaedon Jonathan did a sterling job and set the tone but sitting down 9 of 11 batters he faced ( 63 pitches 3 innings , 4 K’s 2 BB’s No hits and 1 run scored ) Storm Doyle came on and shut them down for 2 innings ( 28 pitches , 2 Ks 1 BB) Caleb Bell came on in the last and closed it down for the home team by striking out 3 of the batters he faced ( 14 pitches , 3 K’s).

Mention must go to Nur Scello for his hard work behind the plate (catcher) and for catching the whole game in the heat and throwing a runner out at second base from his knees. On this day our defense was amazing with the infield making all the plays that came to them. Talun with 2 assists and one catch, storm with 3 assists and one catch, Fayaad filling in at second with one assist while Riley and Dante splitting time at 1st base handling all the balls that was thrown at them! on the batting side I was even more proud of our players as the battled in the box against 2 hard throwing pitchers by scoring 2 runs in the first inning then 5 runs in the 3rd inning .

When Bothasig brought their second pitcher on it and he was throwing harder than the first pitcher we knew it was going to be tough. But we battled again and got on base quite a bit against him .

Jaedon Jonathan 2 for 3 ( 2 singles , 1 BB and 2 stolen bases) Talun Davies 1 for 2 ( Double and 2 walks 1 Stolen base) Caleb Bell 0 for 0 ( 3 BB and 4 Stolen bases) Nicolas 0 for 0 ( 1 BB 1 HPB 2 Stolen bases ).

Special thanks must go to Thomas ( Father of Nicolas) who helped me as our first base coach while our assistant Coach Jean was on Concert Duty this weekend. More special thanks to all the parents that donated for our team braai that happened after the game , hopefully we can have another one next home game and have more kids down as they had a great time. Thank you to Stanton ( Jaedon’s dad ) and Brandon (Dales dad) for braaing and feeding the kids.

No Comments 2018 11 27From the DugoutUnder 12Weekly Roundup

VOB U18 In Comeback Win vs Bothasig 3 – 4 (W)

29
Oct
2018
Two final innings rbi triples takes VOB U18 over the line

(W 2 – L 0)

Another hot still Saturday morning saw an evenly matched VOB and ‘Sig U18 face each other. After last season’s come from behind win at Bothasig both sides were anticipating another tough battle.

Luke Budler started well with a strikeout, then walked the next two. With runner’s at the corner’s aggressive running by Sig, and smart play by VOB’s infield saw an out in a run down between 3rd and home. Budler then closed down any further danger with the second of his eight K’s. A fielder’s choice and a hit to the right side of the diamond saw VOB put a runner on 3rd, but good pitching from Sig closed down our hitting. 0 – 0.

Two strike outs and a groundball saw Sig retired, and VOB up to bat again. Two none down walks set up an opportunity for VOB U18, only for a missed signal, resulting in a popped up bunt to the pitcher, and two strike outs, to see no runs scored. 0 – 0.

Budler then dominated the next Sig innings with 3 K’s. With the top order up again VOB looked to get things going as Luke November drove a middle infield single through the gap left by Sig shifting for a pull. Budler then singled to left field. With runner’s one and two, and none down, some overambitious running saw an out at 3rd. A walk saw runners a 1st and 2nd again, but a broken bat fielder’s choice and a K saw the game tied at 0 – 0 going into the 4th.

With Budler at 62 pitches and facing the meat of the Sig order this was going to be a moment in the game to watch. A walk, a “Texas Leaguer” landing just beyond 2nd base, a K, and a walk saw Budler give way to lefty Kian Afrika. Bases loaded, one down, and 0 – 0, was a tough ask. A good contest ended in an rbi walk and Sig were ahead. A K for the second out and it looked like the damage had been limited, but, with the hitter looking to stretch the count, another walk saw a second run come in. Kian then recovered get the third out. Facing the bottom of the VOB order the Sig pitching stayed on message and three K’s saw VOB 2 – 0 down.

Kian looked to back on track starting the fifth with a K, but then worked too fine and gave away a walk. A balk saw the Sig runner on 2nd , and a good jump saw him steal 3rd. A walk was followed by a ground ball to the right of the diamond and Sig were 3 – 0 ahead. A K closed out their hitting turn. With the clock winding down and facing 9, 1, 2 Sig let their effective rightie starter, who was sitting on a shut out, stay in. a K saw them two outs from the W. Budler drew a walk and Sig brought in their leftie to close. Two wild pitches saw Luke open the scoring for VOB. Matthew Blows, in for Keegan (injury) then drew the walk and VOB had the tying run on. Cleanup Jordyn Riffel then did his job and smashed a triple into deep left to tie up the game. Up stepped Seth Beukes. His walk off triple into deep centrefield settled the matter. 3 – 4.

Coach’s comment – Consistent hard swings paid off. A good game to win, but some work to do.

Batting: Seth Beukes 1 – 2 (triple), 1 IBB, 1 rbi; Jordyn Riffel 1 – 3 (triple), 2 rbi’s; Luke November 1 – 1, 1 bb, 1 HP; Luke Budler 1 – 2, 1 bb.

Pitching: Luke Budler 3.1 innings, 8 K, 1 hit, 5 bb, 2 runs, 2 earned; Kian Afrika (W) 1.2 innings, 4 hits, 4 bb, 1 runs, 1 earned.

1 Comment From the DugoutU18Weekly Roundup