2018-19 Season Issue 3 18 May 2019

Inside this issue: We are the 2018/19 Champions!!! • We are the Champions Congratulations to our champion teams, the Little League Rams, Junior • Grand Finals Write-ups League Rams and Masters Rays for each winning their respective Grand • Editorial Round-up Finals. Runners-up Senior League Rams came so close but with key players away due to other commitments, the RapStars team dominated. See Page 2 • Bulletin article (not pub- for Senior League team photo and full games write-ups. lished)

• Trivia Night Little League Rams: • Junior Presentation Night Back Row from left: Kasey Ball, Eric Passfield (Coach) Lennox • Senior Presentation Passfield, James Williams Night (Assistant Coach), Eli Bastow, Noah Marton, Jaxson Taylor, Da- • Retirement of #24 mien Gardner • Club Working Bees Front Row from left: Luke Simon, Denver Marton, Ehtan Gifford, • Annual General Meeting Cooper Hokins, Aleks Mihajlovic, • Scorers’ Clinic Dates Aiden Lawson, Nathan Buckby

Junior League Rams: Back Row from left: John Albury (Asst Coach), Ethan Albury, Reef Bowden, Brandon Woodland (Coach) Front Row from left: Hamish Baker, Zac Prescott, Ginki Nishi- mura, Tobias Horsfield, Noah Rigney, Avery Mommsen, Lachlan Preo, Marcus Sullivan, Oliver Pres- cott. Missing: Alex Landers

“Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very unorderly Premiers Masters Rays: world. If you get Back Row from left: Adam Pearce, Craige Johnson, Mark three strikes, even Holden, Luke Tranter, Greg the best lawyer in the Joce, Stephen Schneider. world can’t get you Front Row from left: Dean Ainsworth, Kris Rowe, Corey off.” Dean, Lee Brand Bill WeeckBill Weeck

We are the 2018/19 Champions… cont.

Little League Rams: By Marrissa Landers Redlands Rays Coach of the Year, Eric Passfield led his Little Leaguers to victory on what was an edge-of-your-seat nail biter game. Starting pitcher, Nathan Buckby, struck out 9 from 14 batters. There were great fielding catches made by short stop, Noah Marton, and first baseman, Nathan Buckby, that made us wonder if these young men weren’t reincarnations of baseball greats! This fantastic team trailed the top of the table Indian’s until the 5th innings when they took the lead and won 5 runs to 3. Well done Little League, next year promises more great things and we will be eagerly waiting to watch this space!

Junior League Rams: By Marrissa Landers The Junior League Rams division had a hard fought win against the Beenleigh Hawks to become the 2018/19 Premiers. The fans were treated to some great pitching by newcomer Genki Nishimura who struck out 6 batters in 3 innings and had 2 safe hits from 2 at bats (including a double). Another stand out performance from our resident big hitter Avery Mommsen who batted 3 from 3 with two doubles and bought in 4 batters. The Rays looked strong from start to finish maintaining a lead difference in every innings from between two to five runs to taken the win 10-7.

Masters Rays: By Gayle Fletcher Our Masters Rays are the 2018/19 Premiers after an exciting win against Pine Rivers Rapids at Bray Park on Monday 8th April. Starting pitcher, Kris Rowe and Rapids pitcher, Lucas Woodrow, dominated the first three innings with no safe hits recorded and no runs scored. Pine Rivers scored three runs in the top of the fourth inning and Redlands replied with singles by Stephen Schneider, Adam Pearce, Greg Joce, Kris Rowe and Craige Johnson and a double by Co- rey Dean to end the inning at 8-3 to Redlands. Rapids try at a comeback in the top of the fifth inning was countered by excellent pitching by Adam Pearce, who struck out two batters, and top fielding by Mark Holden who disposed of the third batter to end the game with the win. It was a great all-round effort by Redlands who were top of the Masters South ladder for the entire season. Rays Masters last won the premiers trophy in the 2012/13 season.

Senior League Rams: By Gayle Fletcher Our Senior League Rams ended their season as runners-up to the combined All Stars/ Rapids team after a hard-fought 8-12 Grand Final game at Pine Hills. With Soraya and Kai missing from the team due to other commitments, Junior Leaguers Alex Landers and Ginki Nishimura stepped up to capably fill their places on the team. Pitchers for Redlands were Kalab Brand who pitched five innings and Paris Bastow who closed out the game. Batting stars were Elliot Comerford with a single and a double, and Ginki Junior League Rams: Nishimura with a double and two singles while Back From Left: Ray Comerford (Manager), Billy Nagy-Shave, Eras Ryan Scurry, Jamie Doran and Eras Van Van Niekirk, Niekirk all hit singles to get them to on base. It Front from left: Jamie Doran, Kalab Brand, Ginki Nisimura, Alex was a solid performance by the whole team to Landers, Paris Bastow, Elliot Comerford, Lee Brand (Coach) bring home the silver medal. 2

Editorial Round-up: By Dorry Beutel Our club has ended an amazing and successful season with three champion teams and one runner-up after the grand final rounds and the honour of being named Senior Club of the Year with Rhys Niit named the Div 1 Pitcher of the Year. The T-Ball program, organized by coordinator, Kirsty Jackson, was well attended and under the capable coaching of our senior players and coaches, the team improved each week they played. Our Rookie Ball Rays played in a league of 6 teams which gave them a taste of what is to come as they progress into the next level of competitions and, under the guidance of Luke Tranter and Scott McLean, they improved their skills on a weekly basis. Rays junior and senior teams travelled far and wide to play their weekly games with Junior League and Div 6 travelling as far as Toowoomba throughout the season while Div 1 & 2 competed at Pine Hills to the north and Surfers Paradise to the south and anywhere in between. Little League, Junior League, Senior League and Div 6 teams were at the top of their ladder for most of the season and while some teams struggled with the bare nine players, our Little League Rams numbered 14 members. Redlands Rays members have been chosen for representative teams by Brisbane South, Baseball Queensland and Baseball Australia and have excelled in their respective competitions with Soraya and Paris returning from their national championship with a silver medal and with Soraya being awarded the fielding award at the Youth Women’s Nationals. Throughout the season, I have (hopefully) managed to photograph every member of our Rays family before, during and after games and at all our events. We have had a highly successful Trivia Night, three well-attended working bees and our club hosted a very great 12-14yrs Schoolboys Baseball State Titles on the weekend of 27th-30th April. We have had some amazing sponsorships and donations by local companies which have contributed to making our game events popular and our working bees successful. We have managed to have a more public presence in the Redlands with all except one of our articles about our successes (see it on Page 4) published either online and/or in the Redland City Bulletin Although at times our stories and photos have been edited and chopped, it has been great just to put the club out there and let people know we are around and having a fabulous year. There has also been a great online article about the club posted by Brayden Heselhurst on the Redlands Community News website. The Junior and Senior Presentation nights have been held and you can find photos of all the winners and grinners from Page 8 onwards - altogether a fantastic season.

End-of-Season Standings - All Teams

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This is the only article that didn’t make it to either the Bulletin online or into the printed paper this season.

Rays Junior players named in 2019 Brisbane South representative teams By Dorry Beutel Redlands Rays junior teams hosted players from five clubs on Saturday with Rookie Ball, Little League, Junior League, Senior League and U20’s playing at home for the last game of the sea- son. Junior Coordinator, Ray Comerford, created a carnival atmosphere complete with between-game sausage sizzles and drinks for the players, music and announcements throughout the day and an inflatable batting and pitching cage provided by Baseball Queensland for all to test their skills. With play-offs scheduled for the next two weeks, Rays Little League, Junior League and Senior League Rams all won their final round robin games of the 2018/19 season giving them home team advantage for this weekend’s semi-final round. A win in the semi-finals will send each team to the Junior grand finals which will be held at Pine Hills on the 23rd March. Nine Redlands junior players have recently been named in Brisbane South Regional representa- tive teams and will be participating in their relevant state titles scheduled to be held at Indians Baseball Club at Runcorn from 11th to 14th April. Eli Bastow, Nathan Buckby, Damien Gardner, Cooper Hokins, Aiden Lawson and Lennox Passfield were selected for Brisbane South Little League (Div 2) team and Junior Leaguers, Avery Mommsen, Alex Landers (shadow) and Tybias Horsfield (shadow) will be playing in the Junior League team. The winning team and runner-up from the state titles will win the right to compete in the 2019 Australian Championships with Little League to be held in Lismore on 5th to 10th June and the Junior League to be held in Adelaide on 26th to 31st May this year. The national winner in each age group will travel to the US to compete in the Little League and Junior League World Series in later in the year. To keep up to date with club activities and upcoming events, log into Redland Rays Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/RedlandsRays Email: [email protected] Location: 20 Duncan Rd, Sheldon

Left to right from top left: Eli Bastow, Nathan Buckby, Damien Gardner, Cooper Hokins, Aiden Lawson, Lennox Passfield, Avery Mommsen, Alex Landers and Tybias Horsfield

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Trivia Night - 16th February 2019 Sincere thanks go to Donella Humble and Jake “Taco” Turcato for coordinating and hosting our fabulous trivia night on 16th February. It was a massive success for the club, both financially and socially, and could not have been done without you both. Massive thanks also go to the numerous businesses including, Fresh Cuts Lakeside Butchery, Watershed Premium Wines, Ray Comerford, Fielders Choice, Sue Aitkin Swim School, Bunnings, Ashmore Palms Resort, and IGA Mt Cotton who all donated prizes for our monster raffle and for the trivia prizes. The winning team was the “Far Q’s” with team members Rhys Niit, James Albury, Matt Wyatt and their lovely partners who shared the bundle of goodies set aside for first prize. Our “wooden spoon” team was the “The Rejects” made up of Gayle, Scott and Gavin Fletcher. I think that all who attended had a night of fun and laughter and are looking forward to our next one in the 2019/20 season.

The “Far Q’s” team - Rhys Niit, James Albury, Matt Wyatt and their partners.

“The Rejects” team - Gayle, Scott and Gavin Fletcher

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Trivia Night cont.

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Sincere Thanks for the Donations towards our Trivia Night prizes

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This article was published with minor edits by the Redland City Bulletin but unfortunately, the photo was lost in cyberspace. Redlands Baseball Club named Senior Club of 2019

By Dorry Beutel

Redlands Rays Baseball Club has ended the 2018/19 season on a high with the club being named Senior Club of the Year and Div 1 player, Rhys Niit named Senior Pitcher of the Year at the QBL Awards Night held at Pine Rivers Baseball Club on Friday night.

Rays members Soraya Hamson and Paris Bastow have also returned home from the 2019 Youth Women’s National Championships with a silver medal after losing 10-11 to New South Wales in an exciting and hard fought grand final game in Canberra over the Easter weekend. The final was always going to be a “State of Origin” match with Queensland and New South Wales only losing one game each to the other team in the round robins. With Queensland behind by 3 runs after the 6th inning, NSW scored 3 at the top of the 7th putting them 6 runs ahead. A burst of 5 runs at the bottom of the 7th inning brought Queensland to within one run of NSW but unfortunately it was too late to overtake their opponents and they had to settle for the silver medal. Hamson and Bastow contributed well to the team effort throughout the championships, both producing six safe hits with Hamson hitting 3 singles, 3 doubles, 2 RBI’s and scoring 8 runs while Bastow hit 5 singles, 1 doubles, 4 RBI’s and scoring 6 runs. Hamson was awarded the tournament’s overall Fielding Award with 9 assists, 10 put-outs and her involvement in 3 double plays. The trip to Canberra also gave the Queensland girls the opportunity to again play along side the visiting Indonesian Diamonds in the Rough Women’s Baseball squad with a flashback in time to two years ago when Redlands hosted the first ever girl’s baseball team to travel out- side of Indonesia. The Indonesian girls caused a major upset on the opening day of the tournament with their 19-1 victory over a strong Victorian side.

Soraya and Paris with their silver medals

To keep up to date with club activities and upcoming events, log into Redland Rays Facebook page at: https:// www.facebook.com/RedlandsRays Email: [email protected] Location: 20 Duncan Rd, Sheldon

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Junior Presentation Night - 16th March 2019

Rookie Ball Winners Batting Award - Nate Tranter Coaches Award - Grace Comerford Players’ Player - KW

Grace Nate

Little League Rams Winners Batting Award - Lennox Passfield Pitching Award - Nathan Buckby Players’ Player - Eli Bastow

Lennox Nathan Eli

Junior League Rams Winners Batting Award - Avery Mommsen Pitching Award - Lachlan Preo Players’ Player - Ethan Albury

Avery Lachan Ethan

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Junior Presentation Night cont.

Senior League Rams Winners Batting Award - Kai Poon Pitching Award - Soraya Hamson Players’ Player - Jamie Doran

Kai Soraya Jamie

Senior League Bandits Rays Junior Batting Award Batting Award - Kylan Pearce Kylan played in the combined Joint winners Kai Poon and Avery Mommsen Indians/Rays/Eagles team From left to right - Jake Turcato, Kai, Adam Pearce, Stephen Schneider, Barry Albury, Avery, Connor MacDonald

Club Volunteer of the Year Ray Comerford

Club Coach of the Year Club Members of the Year Eric Passfield Elliot Comerford and Kalab Brand With Adam Pearce, Barry Albury, Connor MacDonald, Jake Tucate and Stephen Schneider

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Junior Presentation Night cont.

Rays Junior 2019 Queensland Representatives Kynan Pearce, Paris Bastow and Soraya Hamson With Jake Turcato, Stephen Schneider, Adam Pearce, Barry Albury and Connor MacDonald

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Senior Presentation Night - 27th April, 2019.

Rays Masters Winners Batting Award - Lee Brand Pitching Award - Kris Rowe Fielding Award - Dean Ainsworth MVP - Adam Pearce Pictured with Corey Dean

Div 6 Winners Most Stolen Bases - Scott Fletcher Batting Award - Greg Joce (Harrison Joce pictured) Fielding Award - Adam Griffith MVP - Adam Griffith

U20’s Winners MVP - Hayden Michie Pitching Award - Kailen Hamson Fielding Award - Byron Humble Batting Award - Jacob Ponton Pictured with Lee Brand

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Senior Presentation Night cont.

Div 3 Winners Batting Award - Stephen Schneider Fielding Award - Athol Cunningham Pitching Award - Jamie Munz (absent) MVP - Stephen Schneider Pictured with Brad Hamson

Div 2 Winners Batting Award - Lachlan MacDonald Pitching Award - Kurtis Holden Fielding Award - Kailen Hamson MVP - Gareth Jones (absent)

Div 1 Winners Batting Award - Jake Turcato Fielding Award - Liam MacDonald Pitching Award - Rhys Niit MVP - Rhys Niit Pictured with Dudley Johnson

Senior Batting Award Adam Pearce and Hayden Michie Club Volunteer of the Year Ray Comerford with Dudley Johnson 13 13

Senior Presentation Night cont. Milestones: 100 Games - Hayden Michie, Jamie Munz, Matt Wyatt 10 year Members - Jack Baker, Kurtis Holden, Greg Joce, Liam MacDonald, Hayden Michie, Cooper Wallace

State Representative - QLD U18 - Liam MacDonald National Representation - Liam MacDonald 18U, Beckham Crooks NZ (18U)

Retirement of #24: Stephen Schneider’s (Snides) Uniform Shirt The Senior Presentation Night saw the retirement of Stephen Schneider’s #24 uniform with a commemora- tive plaque mounted on the centre field fence. Stephen has been a member of Redlands Rays for over 20years joining Redlands in the U10’s Navajo T-Ball team when the club was called the Southside Indians and was affiliated with the current Indians Baseball Club. He played in the Southside Indians rep teams when he was in the younger age groups, which then changed to South Brisbane when he was playing U14. Stephen represented Brisbane South throughout his junior ca- reer, was a member of the Queensland Rams team in 1995 and toured the United States three times with the Queensland Taipans team (an off-season development program). After playing most of his junior career at Redlands, Stephen ventured to other clubs for three seasons before returning to Redlands for the 1997/98. He now plays in both the Division 3 Rays team and the Masters team and last season, reached his 20years membership and 500 games for Redlands milestones. Stephen has also been an assistant U12’s coach, vice-president (seniors), IT Manager, and is currently Rays Baseball Operations Manager. He is also a member of the GBL (Greater Brisbane League) Committee.

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Club Working Bees

Our club had four successful working bees during the season when fields were mowed, fence lines were whipper snipped, dugouts scrubbed and painted, diamonds cleaned of weeds and Rookie Baller, Grace Comerford, found a new friend.

A grateful “thank you” goes to all who gave their time to help out at each working bee. Unfortunately the grass and weeds do not stop growing in the off-season and mid-season breaks. Sincere thanks therefore go to life member, Barry Albury, who gives up hours many times each and every week to ride the mower and keep the grass at bay, therefore making the job a little easier for our Club Operations Manager, Dennis Fletcher, and his grounds crew. Dennis would definitely appreciate any offer of help from anyone who has some spare time to help out now that the season has ended. Please call him on Ph 0414 435 100 to arrange at time.

Barry

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Club Working Bees cont.

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Club Working Bees cont.

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Redlands Rays Baseball Club needs

Come to the ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING At the Club House this Wednesday 22nd May, 2019 6.30pm for 7pm start

Volunteers positions are open See our website for details & position descriptions

• Junior Coordinator

• Senior Coordinator • Team Coaches BEFORE YOU • Umpire Coordinator • Assistant Coaches COMPLAIN • • Scorers Coordinator Team Managers HAVE YOU • • Canteen Coordinator Team Umpires VOLUNTEERED • Team Scorers • Uniform Convenor • Registrar YET? • Canteen Ordering

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Date Claimers

2019 Scorers Clinics Will be held at Sport House, 150 Caxton St, Milton

General Clinic (Levels 1,2,3) - Saturday 3rd August Stat Crew - Saturday 17th August Game Changer - Saturday 31st August

Contact Gayle Fletcher on Ph 0432 255 816 for details

Monthly General Meetings are held at MacDonalds Restaurant at Loganholme every 1st Wednesday of the month starting at 7.00pm NOTE: Meetings are every 2nd month during the off-season Next meeting Wednesday, 3rd July, 2019 All Scorers Welcome For further information: Contact QBS Secretary Gayle Fletcher on Ph 0432 255 816

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With Thanks to Our Sponsors

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