CHELTENHAM BASEBALL CLUB INC Summer Season 2014 – 2015

FOURS TWOS

U18 STATE LL STATE

U14 FRI NIGHT LL MAJORS

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Contents……

Committee ______3 Sponsors ______4 President______5 Little League (U12) Coordinator______9 Little League State______11 Little League Metro______14 Little League Major – Giants______16 Little League Major – Braves______18 Little League Major – Yankees______19 Little League Minor – Orioles______21 Little League Minor – Blue Jays______23 Little League Minor – Mets ______25 Little League Minor – Pirates______27 Junior League (U14) Coordinator______29 Junior League State – White ______31 Junior League State – Blue ______33 Junior League – Cheltenham A ______35 Junior League – Cheltenham B ______37 Junior League – Cheltenham C ______39 Junior Coordinator ______41 U16 State______43 U18 State______45 U18 Metro______47 Firsts______49 Seconds______53 Thirds______56 Fourths ______58 Fifths______60 Masters ______62 Teal Game______65 Centenary______67 Slow Pitch______69 Club Award Feature ______70 Mariners______71 Award Winners / Club Awards______72 Inducted Life Members______74 T-Ball Wrap______76 Club Award Nominations______81 Around The Traps______82 Season Wrap______85 COMMITTEE

Summer Committee – 2014-15 Executive: President: Lance Blackley Vice President: John Ferguson Secretary: David Holland Treasurer: Judy Williams

Members: Anthony Bowley Jo Campbell Joe Caruso Gavin Daniels Karen Dunn Mike Estes Russell Ferguson Alan Gribbin Peter Leslie Michelle Ogilvie

Positions of Responsibility:

Bar Manager: Lance Blackley Grounds / Equipment: John Ferguson

Canteen: Kathy Daniels Sponsorship: Lance Blackley / John Ferguson

Registrations: Joe Caruso / Gavin Daniels Social: Jo Campbell / Karen Dunn

Koreans: David Holland Webmaster: Steve Campitelli

Umpire Coordinator: Russell Ferguson Grants: John Ferguson

Junior Coordinator: David Holland Uniforms: Karen Dunn

U14 Coordinator: Michelle Ogilvie Chairman of Selectors: Trevor Hogben

U12 Coordinator: Mark Campbell BV Liaison: Gavin Daniels

T-Ball Coordinator: Peter Leslie

My thanks to all contributors to this book and also to John Ferguson, Tony Preston and Brendan Beacom for many of the photos supplied………. David Holland

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THANK YOU TO OUR CLUB SPONSORS!!

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President’s

Report

Each year our Club is presented with a number of challenges and somehow the committee, players and supporters always manage to find solutions and great outcomes. This year has been no exception.

Heading into the start of the season we learned that our import player from 2013/14, Ryan could not return to Australia due to some visa issues. Having sufficient pitchers of suitable experience is most important to the Club as maintaining our Division 1 stats is paramount to maintaining our centre of excellence for junior development coming through the ranks.

At very short notice, we were able to procure the services of Bryan Kloppe as a mainstream pitcher as well as a junior coach, manager, umpire and ground maintenance helper. Anybody throughout the Club would recognize the benefit that Bryan has brought to the Club this year.

Early in the season, Cheltenham also hosted the inaugural Women’s Baseball Day and over 20 women’s teams from the summer league played their round at our grounds. Games started early in the day and finished late afternoon. Cheltenham’s expertise in hosting tournament events came shining through as the day was a great success.

In November, the Club held our 100 year anniversary at the Southern Golf Club. The gala event was attended by over 120 past players, supporters and dignitaries from Baseball Victoria, Dandenong Baseball Association, Umpires Association and Local Council. Australian Men’s National Coach John Deeble was the key note speaker on the night and all attending the event were entertained by John and the presentations throughout the evening. The fabulous 50 past players were selected as our very best and outstanding achievement 1000 game awards were presented to Laurie Hall and Peter Burdett.

In addition to this, Baseball Victoria through Baseball Australia initiated an online registration process that presented us with great difficulties in administering the process. Secretary Dave Holland and BV liaison Officer Gavin Daniels worked tirelessly over several weeks to meet this challenge and during this process Gavin created and enhance our website ability to register online. In addition, Gavin also created our online event registration which produced outstanding results for ticketing for the gala event as well as Presentation Day.

While all the changes were occurring to the registration process BV also decided to rearrange the structure of the u14/u12 competitions with the introduction of Little League system. Again our Junior Coaches led the way with understanding the new system.

Our First Nine remained in 5th spot overall with a 15W-10L record which is one win better than the previous year. The club coaching team of Matt Taylor, Matt Gourlay, Stuart Adams and Laurie Hall put in a big effort over a long season and have been extremely enthusiastic and passionate about the Club’s success. Trevor Hogben (Chair of Selectors) along with Brad Lark, Paul Cummings, Pat O’Neil and Damon Pettit make a huge contribution during the year coaching the minor grades.

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President’s

Report

Our Second Nine finished in 1st position on the home and away ladder with a 15W-1L record. This clearly shows the depth of the Club. The final’s series saw them take on and beat Essendon in a game that saw us in control all game. This outstanding win is believed to be the first occasion that the Club has taken out Division 1 second nine Championships. I’m more than happy to be corrected if there was another one.

Our Third Nine finished low in the field with 3W-12L record however this side was very young and inexperienced and several players acquitted themselves and gained valuable experience for next season. We do need a few strong bodies to be mixed amongst the young players to bolster the strength of the side and we will look into trying to achieve this next season.

Our Fourth Nine entered their final’s campaign for the 5th season in a row after finishing in second place on the ladder with a 13W-3L record. Congratulations were again in order as we led from start to finish over Sandringham.

The Division 4 South team KL finished the home and away season in 2nd with a 11W-4L record however they were knocked out of the competition in the semi-finals.

Our other Division 4 Rustler side led by Damon Pettit finished in 5th place with a 6W-9L record which was a great effort for the side that have strengthened this season with a very enthusiastic group of players who enjoy playing together.

The Masters team led by Ferg finished in 3rd place on the ladder with a 10W-4L record. Facing Bonbeach in the semi-final saw a nail biting conclusion to a 1-0 loss in the 10th inning.

The under 18 State team finished in 2nd place on the home and away ladder with a 10W-2L record and won convincingly with Jack Encionda taking out player of the game with a 3 run home run, a 2 RBI double and closing pitching performance. That’s back to back championships for our u18 side!

Our u18 metro team led by Trevor Hogben gave themselves every chance for a flag with a 9W-2L record. The team fought valiantly in the final but just came up short but a great season.

The Under 16 State League team were a little disappointing this season with a 1W-12L record however they are a small young team who will only get better next season.

We fielded two teams in the State Junior League and our sides finished mid field against some tough opposition.

Our State Little League team led by John Fairweather finished in 1st place on the ladder with a 9W-1L record. After having our u12 side in the finals on many occasions over the years, it finally became Cheltenham’s turn to put on a display of how well junior baseball can be played. The team won 13 –

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President’s

Report

3 evoking the Mercy Rule at the 70min mark of a 2hr game. This, the first under 12 Championship the Club has achieved since 1963, so congratulations to the team and to MVP Josh Ashen who threw 3 innings of good quality pitching and also scored an in-the-park home run.

Our Metro Little League team also faired very well finishing in 4th place with a 8W-3L record and had a great win over Moorabbin in the final.

Southern Mariners Little League Major squad also fielded 3 teams: Yankees, Giants and Braves who finished 1st, 2nd and 5th . The Yankees made it to the Grand Final and took out the title 6 – 5 over Bonbeach with a walk off Home Run to Josh Ashen. Great effort.

Our Tee Ball competition only had 4 teams comprising of 40 players this year as the restructuring of the juniors saw tee ball players entering the baseball Little league system earlier. This competition is played without keeping score with participation being the focus.

Our Junior Club Representatives continues to be numerous whilst our senior representative players were Brad Harman, Ben Leslie and Lachlan Madden all representing our Club in the Aces Squad. Our Junior State teams were represented by: U14 - John-Paul Callil, Ryuto Nashiro and Benjamin Fierenzi U16 - Jack Dunn U18 Max Barrett, George Callil, Jack Enciondo, Mitch Holding, , Sam Michael, Yuta Sekino, Sam Trend-Beacom, and Jack Daniels

Our Club was also represented well in National Teams with Jack Dunn representing Australia in the AA team that toured Mexico for the World Championships. Mitch Holding, Jack Enciondo, George Calil and Max Barrett all represented Australia in the AAA team that toured New Zealand for the World Cup qualifying series.

We continually try to improve our sponsorship alliances each year and this year we were fortunate enough to gain support from Pharmacy First in Cheltenham. Sponsorship money made available from Pharmacy First allowed the Club to purchase new junior playing tops so that a hire scheme could be formed. This helps considerably to lower the cost to families who have children playing baseball.

We thank the continued support of our existing sponsors Bridgestone, Braeside Cellars, Bendigo Bank and Bentleigh RSL and our own Peter Leslie and Gavin Daniels.

John Fairweather also provided a considerable donation that is to be used for ground improvements on the junior diamond. We will be applying for a community grant to add to the ground improvement funds.

All of the sponsors are highly valued with a significant percentage of the sponsorship going directly to junior coaching programs. The sponsorship dollar enabled us to gain the services of our US import

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President’s

Report

player/coach Bryan Kloppe and he acquitted himself extremely well in both pitching and general coaching of the juniors.

During the year we had a nomination of Life Membership for Matthew Gourlay and Dave Coppens. This was processed by the Board of Management, voted by the members and Matthew and Dave were presented with their Life Membership Badges on Presentation Day.

Both Matthew and Dave have made significant contributions to the Club over an extended period of time in both playing and coaching roles and both have been fantastic mentors on and off the field.

Away from the on-field activities, your Summer Committee is a group of very dedicated people who are passionate about delivering the very best program possible. I thank every person who volunteered their time willingly to help out during the season.

Last, but not least, a huge thank you to my wife, Bev who just looks at me every time I walk out the door and return home an hour late and smiles (well nearly every time!) We are very lucky at Cheltenham, we have some fantastic people involved with our Club and that means great kids and great talent.

Will I be back again next year? Yes, returning if I’m voted in for maybe the last time as this has been the 3rd year of my presidency. Whilst enjoying the Club immensely, there could be somebody else out there that could do a better job or lead us to bigger and better things. We’ll see!

Lance Blackley Club President – Summer Committee

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Little League Coordinator

Well another summer of baseball has come and gone and thanks to Baseball Victoria leaving a major restructure until the week before our first registration day, it certainly was a busy period early on.

The restructure saw the introduction of Minor leagues (8-12yo) and Major leagues (9-12yo). The minors will play baseball almost identical to our traditional Friday night baseball with coach pitch, etc, whereas the majors is real little league baseball based around the Little League International Rules.

This also meant a change to the playing ages which brought players up earlier than expected from Teeball and kept some players playing little league a year longer.

All the Minors games would be played at Cheltenham with the Majors moving from centre to centre. The four clubs now in the Southern mariners Charter were; Cheltenham, Sandringham, Bonbeach, Springvale and Moorabbin.

We entered 4 teams in the minor leagues and 3 teams in the major league. I would like to thank those who volunteered to coach the sides for the season, being;

Minors Mets – Brent Dunkley Orioles – Gareth Finney, assisted by Darren Hiddlestone Blue Jays – Jack Daniels Pirates – Jo Campbell

Majors Yankees – Val Langworthy Brave – John Fairweather Giants – Mark Campbell, assisted by Steve Earle

We also entered 2 Sunday teams with a team each in State and Metro. I would also like to thank John and Val for coaching those teams.

I would classify the season as reasonably successful on a results front with the Sunday State team taking out the State title, the Sunday Metro team taking it up to Bonbeach in the Semi Final. We also had the Yankees finish on top after a count back to the Giants and the Braves finish in 5th with also on a count back from one of the Bonbeach teams. Congratulations to the Yankees on also taking out the Friday Night Majors tile defeating Bonbeach Blue Jays. The Friday night Minor tournament was extremely successful with the Orioles playing off in the 1v2 final game, which was a 3-3 daw. The 4th placed pirates beat Moorabbin. Brent’s’ Mets drew with Sandy 6-6 and Jack’s Blue Jays gave the other Sandy team a run for their money.

I hope that all players enjoyed the season and came out of it as better players.

I would like to thanks all the parents of players for your support and assistance in getting players to training/venues as needed, for helping out at training and on game days/nights. Thanks to Kathy in the canteen and those who manned the bar during the season.

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Little League Coordinator

I must thank John Ferguson for setting up the grounds each week and also for running Wednesday night trainings along with Brian Kloppe.

I would like to wish those players whose baseball journey has now finished in the little league ranks all the best in junior baseball next season.

Until next baseball season, enjoy the winter ball

Cheers,

Mark & Jo Campbell Coordinators

Handover of Cheque from Pharmacy First to Lance and Ferg and a surprise visitor from the States joins in.....Good luck at The Giants Trav!

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Little League State

With a team full of talent and eagerness to play the Under 12 State team won the premiership this year, no small feat given it’s been 26 years since a Cheltenham Under 12 team has done this.

With only one loss we finished the regular season on top of the ladder. We then went on to play one of the most amazing games of the season to defeat Preston in extra innings of the Semi Final followed by a workman like mercy rule crushing of Waverley in the Grand Final.

Round 1 Win Waverley Black 8-4 Round 2 Win Berwick City 14-0 Round 3 Bye Round 4 Loss Melbourne 5-6 Round 5 Win Newport 11-2 Round 6 Win Malvern Washout Round 7 Win Berwick City 14-0 Round 8 Win Sandringham 14-5 Round 9 Win Waverley Red Washout Round 10 Win Waverley Black 5-3 Round 11 Win Preston 9-8 Round 12 Win Melbourne 16-0 Round 13 Win Newport 15-6 Round 14 Draw Malvern 5-5 Semi Final Win Preston 13-12 Grand Final Win Waverley 13-3

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Little League State

The team consisted of a 10 player roster and all players contributed in a significant way through both the regular and post seasons.

Ben Campbell had a fantastic season. One of our best hitters he was also solid in defence wherever he was positioned.

Blake Holding definitely saved his best for the end. His walk off double against Preston in the Semi ended the arm wrestle and put us into the Grand Final.

Bradley Earle was a bit subdued for most of the season but unleashed in the finals. He batted 500 in the finals while batting in 5 runs.

Winner of our MVP award, Cam Zimmerman is capable of winning a game single handed and did so in Round 11 when he hit a walk off bomb with 2 down in the bottom of the last. Batting 500, lightning running around the bases, he was also brilliant behind the plate as our regular catcher with only 2 passed balls for the year and numerous runners caught stealing.

Cooper Williamson would probably be the first to admit he wasn’t the strongest hitter in the regular season but he certainly turned that around in the finals, where he equalled the highest batting average of 667and had a massive on base average of 857. Defensively he was our best outfielder for the season owning centerfield.

Winner of our batting award, Dylan Williamson batted 553 for the season with 21 hits and 10 RBI’s in an excellent performance. He was also very handy as an outfielder, third base, shortstop and our closing pitcher.

Winner of our pitching award, Josh Ashen was my go to as starter for pretty much all of our big games. He threw hard and had great control when it mattered, which is why he won the MVP for the Grand Final. (Might have had something to do with the in the park home run he hit as well) Batting a very respectable 470 for the season, he also led the team with 10 stolen bases.

Rhys Fairweather generally represented the team as our first baseman and a pitcher and fulfilled both tasks well. A bit inconsistent with the bat through the year, he came good in the finals when he equalled the highest batting average of 667 for the series, the highlight being a stand up double in the Grand Final, saving him from running on his injured knee.

Sean Dunne played a lot of positions this season as a handy utility player. His season highlight had to be batting 600 in finals with two RBI’s. Having great attitude and positive outlook, he always had a smile on his face and was a pleasure to have in the team.

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Little League State

Shelby Roberts was another who saved his best for last, getting 70% of his hits in the last six games and batting 500 in finals. Shelby obviously has a passion for the sport because he’s developing at a fast rate and will be someone to watch as he moves up the age groups.

I’d like to thank all the parents for getting the kids down to training and to the games. Also thanks to Rosie Hawkins for scoring and Rob Zimmermann for umpiring most of our home games.

Training for the kids was always hard. With 30 odd kids our only chance of achieving anything was to divide and conquer. Thanks to Sunday Metro Coach Val Langworthy as well as Mark Lewis, Steve Earle and Gordon Tribe who made this process possible. Steve was also amazing in that he threw most of the pregame batting practice throughout the season. No easy feat so early on a Sunday morning.

I’d especially like to thank my assistant coach and Little League coordinator, Mark Campbell, for his help and support throughout the season. I couldn’t have done it without him.

Thank you to our Pitching Coach, Al Tanner. Your development of the kids is something the other clubs don’t have and I hope you continue in the role for many years to come. l Last but not least, thank you John Ferguson for everything you do. Your knowedge of the game is second to none and I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from you.

Yours in baseball,

John Fairweather

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Little League Metro

Congratulations to all the young Metro Rustlers on a great season of baseball!!

We finished 4th- 8 Wins, 3 Loses and 0 draws. We had our share of success but also had a few anxious moments. Many were quick to write us off after our first game. So our goal for the rest of the season was to play with intensity from the 1st pitch to the last and develop a respect for the game of baseball and each other.

All teams face adversity, and it was the second half of the season when this team realised after winning several games in a row that they could make the play offs. We made the semi final and it was a tight defensive game played out with the score 2-2 at the end of the third. Unfortunately we were held scoreless for the remainder of the game and Bonbeach came away with a win. The tight defence and the aggressive batting was a feature of this closely fought final.

The teams improvement has been dramatically notable, their fielding has improved with impressive plays by the infield, spot on cut offs in the outfield and an overall resurgence of confidence. This season as a young team they learnt a couple of valuable lessons - The value of having good pitch selection, Pitching Strikes, playing as a team, respecting each other and discipline.

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Little League Metro

It’s been an honour and a privilege to be associated with a group of kids who love the game so much and have such talent.

Special thanks to Mark Lewis, Ben Morgan and Gordon Tribe for always lending a helping hand at training sessions.

Thank you to our wonderful scorer Kate Morgan and to all parents who helped with set up, ground maintenance, voting and all your support.

The team was made up of the following:

Genevieve Beacom – Showed enthusiasm and dedication to her game like no other. Solid with the glove at 1st and always ready to get the job done on the hill when required. Hanami Campitelli – Confidence and determination has emerged to make her a pitcher which demands respect on the hill. Kellan Hill - The quite achiever but in the batting box his hits ensured you noticed him. Reliable to get on base and always ready to learn something new. Dylan Hind – Initially timid and unsure of the game. However his attitude and improvement was outstanding. Especially in the batting box. By the end of the season he got himself on base every at bat. Ryan Langworthy – Determination and competiveness has seen Ryan become a reliable batter and solid in the infield. Always kept the coach on her toes with his base running. Kody Lewis - New to the game and always ready to have a go. Quick legs and strong arm made him an asset in the outfield. Keely McKeown – Defensively solid with his rocket arm at 3rd. Every week had a story for us which would make us all laugh. Ben Morgan – Versatile anywhere you played him, always asked lots of questions and became a solid lead off batter. Jack Octigan – Played mostly 2nd with no complaints and did an awesome job. Always did his best and was the best at motivating his team mates. Josh Tribe – Struggled early with the bat in the season, but fought hard and became our most powerful hitter. Mostly played outfield and came in to pitch when required. Chris Tsakoumakis - Played mostly outfield and when given his chance didn’t disappoint with his back ups and spot on cut offs. Confidence in the batting box improved Nic Volpe - Played predominantly as our main catcher. Every game gave everything he had, finished the season strong with the bat.

Cheers Val Langworthy - Coach

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Little League Majors Giants

The Giants was just one of three little League Majors teams the club submitted for the Summer season. I know there was considerable debate around playing 3 teams of 12 or 4 teams of 9 players. As the majors are playing by Little League International Rules, every player on the team sheet must play a minimum of 6 defensive outs and have 1 plate appearance. With 12 players, this was extremely difficult to manage, especially in a 90 minute game that won’t necessarily go 4 innings. In hindsight, we may have been better off having 4 teams, that way we could have managed game time a bit easier.

I would just like to start off by thanking Steve Earle for his assistance and base coaching throughout the season. I would also like to thank Kate Morgan for scoring each week.

The Giants had 12 players and the plan was to get everyone to pitch at some stage, which I think I may have done?? There is some confusion regarding the first game, as I’m pretty certain a certain person (Brad) pitched, but the book doesn’t show it. If I am wrong, apologies Brad.

The aim is for a team to win at least 50% of their games. This we managed to achieve by finishing 2nd on a countback from the Yankees in first place. All it came down to was the head-to-head results. We had 2 bogey teams for the season and they were one of them. The other team, we happened to lose to in the semi final by 1 run.

When you look at the team and the talent that each of the teams had, I think we were one of the more consistent teams to be fielded. Of the 6 players to eventually make the mariners squad, only 1 player came from the Giants. Congratulations Dylan.

Our squad consisted of;

1. Ben Campbell 2. Cooper Williamson 3. Dylan Williamson 4. Luke Vorbach 5. Jack Octigan 6. Ryan McCall 7. Brad Earle 8. Ben Morgan 9. Bailey McKinnon 10. Patrick Bouvier 11. Ben Tilbrook 12. Quinn Estes

Each player brought something to the team, which helped to achieve the results we wanted. One of our aims was to not actually skills coach players on the night. That would be left for Training days.

Of our team, only 4 players are required to go to Juniors (u14’s) next season. Good luck to those who will be moving up. I hope that we will see the remaining 8 players back at Cheltenham next year.

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Little League Majors Giants Thanks parents for all your help and support throughout the season, especially in getting players to the various venues on time.

Thanks team for your efforts and I look forward to seeing you all around the club next season.

Mark Campbell - Coach

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Little League Major Braves

The Braves were a great team this season due mostly to the fact that it consisted of a great group of kids who were keen to listen, learn and improve in all aspects of the game of baseball. A large help to our team was the input of Blake, Rhys and Shelby, who also played for the Sunday State League team. These three made my life a lot easier by assuming the role of joint assistant coach and running warm ups and assisting the more inexperienced players when I had my hands full.

On the field we were competitive finishing just outside a finals spot but we did so whilst generally making sure every player had a go in every position, particularly pitching and catching. The Braves had a good mix of strengths, a good dose of spirit and a lot of support for each other and I’m sure this made it nice for the spectators to watch.

I really hope that all our players will continue with baseball in the future because they can all go on to bigger and better things. Each player put in and extended themselves throughout the season and they all did it with a smile on their face. I thank them for that. I’d also like to thanks the parents, who were all prepared to help with set up and even scoring. Special thanks to Mark Lewis for his assistance on the field.

Yours in baseball,

John Fairweather - Coach

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Little League Major Yankees

The season is over and what a successful/interesting and surprising one it’s been.

Congratulations to all the Yankees for winning the Friday night Little League Major competition! We ended up with 9 wins 2 Loses and 2 draws and on top of the ladder, it was a terrific season.

This is quite an extra ordinary eclectic group of kids. Some had never played before, some had just come up from Rookie ball and others had been playing for a number of years. While we certainly had some players who excel more than others in the end it was how much you love baseball and how much you put into the game you are playing.

The grand final was an amazing and a fitting last game for the season. The entire team worked together. They fought their way back after being down by three at the top of the fourth. One run at a time they pushed themselves out of their comfort zones. And no way better to end the game than with a walk off Home Run by Josh Ashen (a memory he will treasure for a long time).

The determination and competiveness to get us over the line that his group of kids had is truly a great thing and something to be proud of, particularly after only playing together for one season. Team work and bonding where evident both on and off the field.

Now that the final inning has been played for the year I couldn’t possibly end without saying thank you each team member, to Rob Zimmerman for his help and thank you to all the parents. It’s been an honour and a privilege to be associated with a group of kids who love and play the game as a team to well.

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Little League Major Yankees

Yankees Team Roster – Premiers 2014-15

Rocky Angelone Travis Finney Coach: Val Langworthy Josh Ashen Michael Hill Genevieve Beacom Ryan Langworthy Jack Brooks Keely McKeown Hanami Campitelli Chris Tsakoumakis Sean Dunne Cameron Zimmerman

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Little League Minors Orioles

I had a GREAT time coaching the boys this season.

After having a few years in the tee ball comp, it was a good challenge to get the guys up and firing in the new U12 Minors comp this year. Some had some tee ball behind them, others no baseball experience at all, and it was truly satisfying to see ALL the players improve from start to finish!

Our motto was to ‘Listen’ (tick), ‘Learn’ (tick), and ‘Have Fun’ (tick), and to the boy’s credit, we ticked all three boxes this year. We had plenty of fun, plenty of smiles on the dials, and what was pleasing the most is that they wanted to learn each and every week. It’s not the easiest game to learn when you’ve had little to no experience playing whatsoever, and to see them start to make some great plays, hit the ball sensibly and build their knowledge of the game at such a young age was fantastic to see.

I encourage all the boys to stick at it whether it is U12 Majors next year or still with the Minors, as there’s plenty of untapped talent in this line-up that I hope will improve year on year and become great ball players!

I’d like to thank all the parents for bringing the boys to training and game nights, and in particular those that stuck their hands up for scoring – what an experience that turned out to be for some!

I’d particularly like to thank Darren Hiddlestone for not only filling in for me while on holidays, but being there to umpire, coach the bases, and helping me with the pre-game warm ups. Also, to John Ferguson, again, another big thanks in getting the diamonds marked and setup. It just would not happen without your efforts…

Gareth Finney - Coach

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Little League Minors Orioles

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Little League Minors Blue Jays

This season I had the job of coaching the Cheltenham Minor team the Blue Jays, it has been quite a while since I had played my last Under 12’s Friday night game and a lot has changed since then. At the start of the season for most of the players it was their first season playing baseball and the two kids that had played before got moved up to the majors. We struggled for numbers for quite a few weeks, but some of the boys invited a friend to come play and we started having anywhere from 9- 11 players each week. But from the start of the season all the way to the end there was a big improvement from every player and on the right day with everyone focused

Ryan Cliffe: Ryan shows up each week ready to play, he gives his best effort to all aspects of the game and is always willing to improve with every game which he has done throughout the season.

Mitch Cook: Mitch is a great utility player, you ask him to pitch, catch play infield or outfield he with play that position and play it well. Mitch was pretty handy with the bat too and he always gives 100% in every game.

Alex Fennessy: Alex being his first season he was able to play down an age group but with this he wasn’t able pitch or catch but that didn’t stop him from giving every position his best effort, he also could swing the bat well and become a lot better if he keeps working hard.

George Fennessy: George is very energetic and is great team player, being the only left hander it was hard to play him in most positions but if he sticks to playing baseball he can be a great asset to any team he is in.

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Little League Minors Blue Jays

Nick Giustiniano: Nick was probably one of the guys I looked for to get a job done, he could hit the ball hard, has a great arm, he can catch and he is also a great pitcher. If he sets his mind to do something in the game he can do it.

Jesse Harrington: Jesse had the tough job of being our starting pitcher most weeks, he is a strong hitter and has a great arm. Jesse can play in any position and is always focused on what he needs to do for each play and always listens and takes everything bit of advice on board.

Toby Luxton: Toby came later on in the season and really showed with a few games left how he can really swing the bat well and he had really surprised me on how well he can play the game for his first season.

Hugo McNamara: Hugo is always positive when and is always ready to play when he rocks up to the to the field, you can play him anywhere on the field and he will play it well, the way he goes about the game is good, Hugo is a great natural player and can be a great player in the years to come.

Noah Rogers: He always plays each game as best as he can and he had improved a lot over the season and can become a great player in the future if he focuses and works hard.

Nick Saunders: Nick is a very energetic and is always willing to play, he has a good swing and a strong arm to go with it, he is always will to play most positions and be a great player if he works hard and focuses.

Edward Steere: Eddie has a lot of passion for the game he is always positive and keeps everyone else in the team up, he always give his best effort either in the batter’s box or in the field and if he keeping him mid in the game he can be a handy player for any team he is in.

I would also like to say thank you to Karen Witchell that helped with coaching a few weeks and thank you to Kim Fennessy for helping out with scoring most games, I would also like to thank all of the people that umpired games and to the parents for coming down and supporting the kids every week.

Jack Daniels - Coach

Team Members

Alex Fennessy Edward Steere

George Fennessy Hugo McNamara

Jesse Harrington Mitch Cook

Nick Giustiniano Nick Saunders

Noah Rogers Ryan Cliffe

Toby Luxton

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Little League Minors Mets The Cheltenham Mets were made up of six first year players with the remaining four players being second year players.

The philosophy that we worked on for the season is that you only win games if you score runs and that I would rather see a player strike out from swinging than watching strikes past them.

This has hopefully transpired to all our players playing with an aggressive attitude to batting and wanting to score runs.

Having such a high number of t- ball/first year players was challenging but the team has developed into a really cohesive group that scored more runs than they had scored against them during the season.

It is with this in mind and the thought that Little League Minors is an introduction to baseball that I hope all the Mets players aspire to play Little League Majors as a natural progression of their baseball development.

Well done Mets, you are all to be congratulated on an outstanding season. Brent Dunkley – Coach

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Little League Minors Mets

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Little League Minor Pirates

We started off the season thinking that Ryan Bean was going to be the coach of the Pirates but due to unforeseen circumstances the Pirates were stuck with Coach Jo!! So with the help of Antony Harrowell (a stalwart of the Rustlers) on the first Friday night game down at Farm Rd we had a win. The next game they had to be coached by Cambo as l had Uni and that was a game we won’t talk about…. The rest of the season was l think more wins than losses and we finished 4thon the ladder but 3rd overall.

As this was the first season of U 12s for most of the team we had an interesting way of preparing for a game which included the boys being a bit silly and trying to kill each other during warm up and yelling at them to warm up correctly didn’t help but they certainly concentrated for game time. The Pirates were also never a team to arrive too early to the game to the point where sometimes l thought we may have to forfeit (but thank fully) that only happened once for Halloween Trick or Treating to keep with American Traditions.

All of the boys could probably pick out many number of highlights of their own that happened over the season but my first and foremost is that the boys came together as a team from the word go and they were happy to have other team mates that only played with them for a few games (Jack who was too

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Little League Minor Pirates good for minors and went to majors/Tristian who played two blinders of games when here visiting from the states who’s dad Travis was a great support and helpful with the kids as well/ Kai who came to the pirates late in the season who also got to pitch for the Blue Jays in the finals!! and Riley who was happy to play as our opposition on a few occasions).

Throughout the whole season l rotated the boys fielding and batting positions so that they all had a number of occasions and opportunities of batting at the top or bottom of the order as well as changing in and outfield positions to sometimes grumbles but also excitement from all concerned (kids/coaches and parents) when they played well took a brilliant catch or hit the best line drive when we least expected.

I cannot single out anyone play or child or game that stood out more than any other except to say a HUGH THANK YOU to a wonderful group of children and families who helped me to grow and develop as a coach with their help. My coach pitching efforts were not seen after Christmas (No explanation needed) but my parents were well organised from the start of the season by a wonderful Team Manager: Belinda Gourlay with also the weekly help of my Assistant Coach/ Parent: Cameron Hallowell (l sorry for the frustrations l caused on many occasions) and of course Assistant Assistant Coach/Parent: Brett Selacki!!!! As well as of course the best group of supports of the Pirates team our Parents/siblings/friends and Grandparents.

Not to forget those who came to Wednesday night training sessions with John Ferguson and Bryan Kloppe where those very experienced coaches spent many long sessions teaching the boys new skills that they used in each game,as the season progressed so did the boys. Not to forget another Hugh Thank you to all the people who volunteered to Umpire our games. And of course the other teams we got to play against it was certainly a fairly even competition as the season progressed.

With this group of boys the next few years can only get better. If we are able to stay as much as possible as a team next season we may be the team to be reckoned with!!! (First Season Coach Brag) Finally to All my boys it was a pleasure being your coach for season 2014/2015 U 12 Minors and l know that you have all achieved so so so so much this season and to beat Moorabbin in the Finals and finish 3rd overall was something l am proud to say: I coached the Pirates and we won!!! Proud Pirate Coach Jo signing off for this season until 2015/2016 U /12 Minors Summer League… Hey Hey me heartys  Coach: Jo Campbell

Assistant Coaches: Cameron Hallowell & Brett Selacki

Team Manager: Belinda Gourlay

And a great group of family helpers from our team!!!

Pirates Team Members Are: Aras Harbutt, Jye Chapman, Benjamin Hallowell, Sascha Selacki, Lachlan Stephens, Sam Reynolds, Riley Walker, Thomas Carlin, Jordan Thompson, Jack Brooke’s, Tristan Blackley and Kai Grover.

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Junior League Coordinator 2014/15 Summer Season has come and gone in a blink of an eye this year as it seems to every year. Once we reach Christmas and come back after the break the season seems to be over.

This season saw a change in the eligibility age brackets from December 31st to May 1st the following year. As this was a transition year, it then gave a few players a choice of playing an additional year in the lower age bracket or going up to the next age bracket. It initially caused a few hiccups with our player numbers but everything worked out in the end.

Out went the Friday night South Centre competition which was renamed Junior League Southern Mariners Charter. We decided to field three teams with 2 teams of 9 and one team of 8. I believe this was the right decision for the players. enabling them all to get a lot of game time each week. The alternative would have been rostering players off each week and having players on the bench which wasn’t the best option for the players.

This year’s Friday night Grand Final was battled out between two Cheltenham teams, Cheltenham B and Cheltenham C. They went into the grand final with Cheltenham C having already won both games against their opposition. This game was always going to be a tightly fought match. The result isn’t a true indication of how close the game was. Cheltenham B were victorious having won 5 – 0. Unfortunately, Cheltenham A finished outside of the four and did not play finals.

Our Friday night coaches were: Cheltenham A - Craig Sexton Cheltenham B - Bryan Kloppe Cheltenham C - Gianni and Joe Caruso

I would like to thank these guys for stepping up and coaching this year. I did have a lot of trouble finding coaches and Craig, always accommodating, said yes. Joe had, I believe, had never coached baseball before, agreed and with Gianni, a seasoned player, by his side did a great job. Bryan was our last edition to our Friday night coaching stable, I think he had only been in the country a couple of days when he was thrown in to the deep end and asked to coach Cheltenham B. Like our other coaches he accepted quite willingly and I think he was a great fit for the team and did an excellent job coaching them to a grand final.

Training sessions were run on a Thursday night by Anthony Bowley and John Carlile with Al Tanner for pitching practice. I would like to thank these guys who also coached the two Sunday teams. We had two State teams this season who both finished outside of the final four therefore missing out on finals.

Sunday coaches were: Cheltenham Blue – Anthony Bowley Cheltenham White – John Carlile

I would like to thank Gavin Daniels for umpiring whenever I asked for his help, John Ferg for setting up the diamonds, Kathy for keeping us all well fed and always with a smile and Dave Holland for keeping everyone up to date with his Team App and for his words of advice.

Lastly, I would like thank everyone who assisted in scoring, being team manager or any other jobs which helped to make this a successful season.

Hope to see you all next Summer 2015-16! Michelle Ogilvie – U14 Coordinator

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Junior League Coordinator

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UNDER 14 STATE WHITE JUNIOR LEAGUE

Well it only seems like yesterday that we started training, it is actually 6 months ago.

This year has seen some changes with the replacing of the U14 nationals with the extension of the Little League program.

This posed some challenges and opportunities which we had to work through, not the least being the expansion of the age cut off.

We took the opportunity to put two sides into the one competition which we thought would give the most opportunity to all the players to get a chance to play at the highest level of baseball available to them. While we did not make the finals, when reflecting on the results, it was only a few runs, walks and errors that was the difference which can be put down to the age of the players.

24 players had the opportunity to participate at this level and hopefully this has given them an understanding of the standard that they need to get to and the areas which they need to improve on.

I would like to thank all the parents for the opportunity to coach this great bunch and look forward to watching them progress over the next few years.

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UNDER 14 STATE WHITE JUNIOR LEAGUE

Special thanks to: Anthony Bowley & Simon Myles for their efforts with the blue side. Nicole and Amanda for helping out with team manager duty. All the parents that helped with scoring. All the parents that helped with setting up on game day.

All the best to the players who will represent the club as part of the Mariners squad at the National Championships over Easter.

John Carlile (Coach)

Awards – dual MVP - Declan Croker / Jed Woodger Batting Average – Dante Caruso

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UNDER 14 STATE BLUE JUNIOR LEAGUE

This year I was given the opportunity to coach the top age boys.

We started the season well, beating Waverley Red and Sandringham the following week.

The next game was against Chelt White and we got toweled up loosing 9-2.

The next 6 games resulted in 2 wins, 3 losses and 1 draw bringing us to the Christmas break.

With 4 games to go after the break the finals looked possible if things fell into place.

Coming up against the unbeaten Waverley Black, we lost 7-3. Waverley scored 5 runs in the first innings and only managed 2 for the remainder of the game after a great relief pitching performance by Darcy.

With 2 wins and another draw for the remaining 3 games we finished 7th with a winning percentage of 53%.

The drawn games against Melbourne and Essendon really hurt us and in the end were the difference in making the finals.

The boys were a pleasure to coach and are a credit to their parents

I would like to thank the club for giving me the opportunity to be the coach of such a talented group of boys.

I wish all the boys the best of luck next year as they move up to under 16’s.

Thank you: Simon for all of your help at every game. Your experience and knowledge of the game is invaluable.

Kellie for looking after emails and keeping everyone up to date with what was going on

To My scorers, Barb, Russ, Nerida, Gavin and Kellie, (sorry if I have missed anyone), thank you.

To Grant, Craig and anyone else who helped set up the diamond, thank you.

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UNDER 14 STATE BLUE JUNIOR LEAGUE

And finally to John Carlile thank you for the organized training sessions every Thursday night.

Cheltenham Rustlers Blue

Coach: Anthony Bowley

Kaito Aono

Luke Ashen

Oliver Bowley

Dylan Buhrmann

Ben Fierenzi

Connor Myles

Thomas Ogilvie

Fraser Parsons

Ben Sexton

Darcy Trewarn

Will Tucker

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U14 Cheltenham A Friday Night Junior League

Cheltenham A started the season on the receiving end of a 15 zip belting from an eventual Grand Finalist which could have seen us limp through the rest of the season with our tail between our legs.

Instead the boys showed great character by getting strait back up and turned up to each game believing we'd get the win. In fact we won 5 games for the season with a number of 1 run loss's including a 6-5 loss in the opening game rematch.

The team consisted of 10 relatively competent baseballers some who had established roles in the Sunday teams. We played things a little differently Friday night and we attempted to broaden every ones skill base and play as a team of “all-rounders”.

Saying that, some boys excelled at some tasks more than others, one of those being Ben Fierenzi. Ben finished well clear in the batting stakes with a 0.45 hitting average and a whopping 0.8 slugging percentage thanks to 2 home runs, 5 doubles, a whole bunch of singles and no strike outs. In addition Ben regularly opened the pitching with instructions that he could only throw a minor and to finish the innings before the 5th batter, a task that he often did.

Another consistent hitter was Will Tucker who also had a bunch of singles and doubles. Will probably held the record for base stealing along with the record for caught stealing as well. Look for the signal Will! Obviously in order to win a baseball game a team needs plenty of hits and we had a few players that racked up good totals. Max Philips was one that has great technique and a good attitude. Max often put a lot of pressure on himself in the batting box and when he learns to relax he'll start smashing out some home runs.

Fraser Parsons was another good hitter and seemed to pull some fabulous hits from no where. Fraser is a great all rounder with good skills with the bat, good skills in the field, a good catcher and most importantly good entertainment skills in the dugout. His superman dives across home plate were always a crowd pleaser. By seasons end we'd built up a good list of competent pitchers which is important when Sunday pitching and catching duties restrict nearly half the team. This has it's up side in that anyone who wants to pitch will get some time on the mound.

We had 9 pitchers at various times this season and all achieved credible results. Narrowly ahead on the pitching stats sheet was Kieran Moran who had a healthy strikes to balls ratio, low runs scored total and was always eager to take the mound. He would have pitched more if he wasn't such a good catcher.

Another player who doesn't usually pitch but was happy to have a go was Andrew Vacouftsis who threw 1 ½ innings in our final game giving up only 1 run. Andrew finished the season as a good reliable fielder although was probably a little unlucky with the bat with a number of good looking flies not finding the gaps.

Lucas Confaloneri was another that probably didn't have his best season at bat but certainly played well in the field and picked up new skills that enable him to have no trouble holding down any fielding position. Our season was also complicated with a few on-going injuries.

Jacob Watt was frustrated by a significant shoulder injury which limited his fielding ability and kept him to a mere 0.320 hitting average For anyone else that’s quite a respectable batting percentage but I'm sure Jacob would have been looking for better.

Ben Sexton also developed a niggling arm injury which limited the fielding positions he could play. Despite

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U14 Cheltenham A Friday Night Junior League that Ben's experience at second base was invaluable and with the help of the sacred Vodoo bat he did manage to top the list with RBI's which is a stat to be proud of.

Cheltenham A were fortunate to avoid the unforeseen team number issues that the 2 other Cheltenham teams experienced. To cut long to short Chris Neilson unselfishly volunteered to help out the other teams and enabling the competition to continue in its same format. Chris had built up a good batting and pitching record with us and is always a great team motivator. It was this unselfish attitude and sportsmanship that made Chris a great candidate for Coaches award.

As the coach this year I was particularly fortunate to have some great helpers which meant that some weeks I didn't even have to turn up! My son Luke helped out as assistant and in my absence coached. As a player he seemed to see things that I wouldn't so his help was invaluable.

I was also fortunate to have a great team of parents always on hand to set-up, score, umpire or cheer. Although we didn't set the baseball world on fire the boys all seemed to enjoy their baseball each week and hopefully continue on next season in whatever format they choose.

I'll leave you with a training night quote from the great man Ronnie Carothers, “If you want to send that express buddy, you need to put more postage on it”

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U14 “Killer” B’s Friday Night Junior League

When I took over as the Coach of the “B” team, I didn’t know what to expect. All I had been told was that we had won three games in a row to start the season. From the time that I took these young men through our first stretch, warm-ups and pregame routine I could tell that this was going to be an easy group to get along with.

The players helped me to set a lineup for my first game and we were off. Although we lost that game 2-1 vs. Cheltenham C (despite Jake Stafford’s great outing on the mound) it was exciting to be so warmly welcomed by a group of highly motivated players. And even though I could tell that these were great individuals, my first reaction to this game was that our team could not hit.

This was a fair estimate considering that the other team fielded no outfield and we could only score one run in that contest, but I could not have possibly been more wrong! Over the next four games, our bats woke up and we outscored our opponents 55-9 during that stretch. What an impressive group of talent! After seeing this display of dominance, I didn’t think that we would lose another game.

I thought payback was due to the Cheltenham C team when we returned for our first game after the Christmas break. Again, I was wrong and we were shut down 5-3 in yet another tough fought pitcher’s dual. Matt Coe and Thomas Ogilvie pitched very well for us in this game but we couldn’t muster up enough runs in support to earn the win.

We bounced back again and won the next two games in convincing fashion capped off by four home runs (Jed, Connor 2 and Declan) and clutch hits from Jake Stafford in our first round playoff against Bonbeach. This again left us up against the other Cheltenham team who had a strong mental advantage over us, having handed us our only two losses for the season.

For the third time in a row, we had a pitchers dual in the Premiership but Declan Croker held them scoreless, picking up 10 strikeouts in his four innings pitched and leaving critical runners on base. Our closer Jed Woodger shut the door with big strikeouts in the fifth. Connor Myles hit a three run home run in the first inning and that would prove to be all we needed as we captured the pennant 5-0 against a very strong Cheltenham C team who fought hard until the final out.

Needless to say, it is very easy to set a lineup when everybody on your team has an on base percentage of over .500. All of our players were strong contributors to our team’s success and are deserving of high praise and recognition.

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U14 “Killer” B’s Friday Night Junior League

Our MVP was our shortstop and closer Jed Woodger who batted .783. Declan Croker was our pitcher of the year with a 0.95 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 14.2 innings pitched. Conor Myles was our Home Run and RBI king, notching 4 dingers and 21 RBI’s. Mack Turley had a great season and managed our pitchers from behind the plate saving a lot of runs defensively and getting on base regularly to set the table for the rest of the order. Jake Stafford was one of our playoff heroes getting clutch hits for us to win the big games. Josh Smith was crucial to our lineup’s success and always finds a way to grind out long at bats and wear down pitchers to eventually earn his way on base. Matt Coe was the recipient of our teams “Hustle” award by always working hard, having a positive attitude and being ready to pitch or make lots of plays in the field when we needed them. Thomas Ogilvie was a rock at the hot corner and worked hard to contribute to our team’s success, driving in runs in the middle of our order and pitching brilliantly in our last regular season game to secure our top seed in the playoffs.

It is exciting to think about the strong future that our club has in the hands of these talented young men. I was blessed by honor of coaching them and look forward to seeing what they will achieve both on and off the field. Go Rustlers!

Bryan Kloppe – Coach

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U14 Cheltenham C Friday Night Junior League

What a season! The Cheltenham C team was blessed with a great bunch of young men that only got better as the season progressed. We had everything, illness, plague, injury, famine (mainly Gianni during 2nd-4th innings), Thirst (Gianni again!!), falling asleep stealing, cameos, forced to play blanks, playing with no outfield and forfeits.

Our two big men Jack and Nathan intimidated the opposition with the bat and on field swapping outfield and 3rd base duties and throwing bullets to 1st before the runner could drop the bat. Jack "Rowdy" Rice is developing into a pretty imposing pitcher and we have already started seeing batters quivering while facing him.

Jake and Darcy both took turns behind the plate and did a brilliant job catching and distracting the batters with lewd rumours about their mums. They also did great work on the mound and further afield. Gus "Bus- I’ll play any position but Catcher" had a wonderful season playing in most positions and punishing ball with bat regularly. His most memorable games where however when he played CATCHER. Blocking, wild pitch saves and pick offs, it was like a scene from the Matrix. Time for a name change... Neo.

Ollie was solid with bat, regularly getting on base and coming home stealing a few bags on the way. On the field we played him wherever we needed his leadership, experience and skills. Off the field we needed him for his leadership, experience and extensive knowledge of rock & roll and hot girls.

Our Master outfielder Taisei had an awesome season. Lightening fast and skilful, he ate fly balls for dinner and had the occasional infield fly for dessert. Taisei was great with bat and loved to steal bases, slide and bunt- even when he didn't have to.

Dante was our leadoff hitter who had a solid season with the bat and played short stop and closing pitcher for us in defence; Loved to come onto the mound when bases are loaded and come off the mound with the bases still loaded with the same runners.

Chris came to us in December and was a great addition to the team as we finally had 9 players. A great all-rounder, crushing the ball with bat like Hercules fighting the Nemean Lion and throwing lightning

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U14 Cheltenham C Friday Night Junior League bolts from the mound like a blonde Zeus from Denmark. But alas, there was trouble in paradise. Chris was not allowed to play the last two games as the Pantheon of Baseball Victoria dictated that Greek deities need to play a certain number of games to qualify for finals. Still, he came down from lofty Olympus to be with the lads for those games. Most humble for a deity and much appreciated by the team.

The highlight of the competition came at the business end of things in the first final against Sandringham. The boys played a blinder of a game with every single person in the line-up consistently whacking the ball safely to get on base with RBIs for us and humiliation galore for Sandy. Multiple double plays, classic catches and big cheese from the mound.

Well done lads. A pleasure to coach and eventual Runners Up in the competition.

Thank you to Gianni Caruso for being my right hand man and 1st base coach. Thanks to Gavin and Sara who help us out with the scoring.

A special thanks to Antony Harrowell for providing the "real" coaching. Not being a baseball player myself, all I could do was follow the strategies that were used in the classic American baseball documentaries; "Bad News Bears, Major League 1, Major League 2, Major League 3 and Slap Shot".

Joe Caruso - Coach

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JUNIOR COORDINATOR

Well as Winston Churchill once said:

To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.

From an overall junior perspective we were certainly faced with many changes and challenges over the past 6 months and I believe we have come through with flying colours.

Under 12

Congratulations and our sincere thanks go to Mark Campbell who has done a brilliant job yet again in not only coordinating our youngsters at Under 12 level but also coaching a Friday night team AND assisting with the LL State team.

This season we were faced with a new challenge, that of LL Majors and Minors as well as our Sunday State and Metro teams. This was a massive job coordinated and organized in the main by Mark and his tireless efforts from start to finish have been nothing short of brilliant.

Through all of this, what do we say in review? Nothing but excitement, enjoyment and success!

I saw many minor games on Friday nights and for the most part all I saw were youngsters having a go, laughing and enjoying their baseball. I saw dedicated coaches and enthusiastic parents. Tick!

The majors were also very successful with 2 teams making the Grand Final and eventual success for The Yankees, wonderfully coached by Val Langworthy.

And our Sunday teams – congratulations to both Val and John on reaching the finals and particularly to John who led his charges to the LL State premiership.

Under 14

The Under 14 Friday night competition had its ups and downs but overall again a successful season with Bryan Kloppe’s team defeating Joe Caruso’s charges in the all-Cheltenham Grand Final. Our Sunday teams, whilst not making the finals were also in a transition stage and had numerous successes during the year. Our thanks to John Carlile and Anthony Bowley for their hard work.

In a challenging season my thanks to Michelle Ogilvie who again did a wonderful job as U14 Coordinator, often under pressure. Sincere thanks and appreciation to you Michelle

Under 16

We were only able to field one Under 16 team this year and whilst in hindsight they may have been out of their depth there is no doubt the decision to play State League will certainly benefit the lads in the future. My Thanks to Russell Ferguson and Adam Leech who worked the boys hard and in the constant face of defeat kept the spirits high and ensured the boys enjoyed their baseball throughout the season.

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JUNIOR COORDINATOR

My congratulations to Jack Dunn who had an outstanding season both in the Under 16’s and at Senior level. Jack was our only representative at State level after having being selected in the Australian U15 team that travelled to South America during last Winter. Congratulations Jack on your MVP and Batting award for the U16’s.

5 of these boys (Jack, Noah, Angus, Matt and Michael) will be moving up to Under 18’s and the work put in by Ferg and Leechy will assist in standing them in good stead next season.

Under 18

A mighty effort from Pat and Trevor and the boys with both teams making the Grand Final. Congratulations to Pat and the State side for winning the Premiership and commiserations to Trev’s Metro side. A terrific effort considering that on many occasions these guys played with 8. Thank you to Angus Octigan, Michael Moore, Matt Holland and Jack Dunn for moving up to fill in during the season.

------

Aside from our coaches and level coordinators, several key people need to be thanked for their contributions to Junior baseball this Summer:

Gavin Daniels, again, for his umpiring of juniors on Friday night and for the U18’s on Sunday. This guy just loves the caper and together with his umpiring his many efforts around the Club in many capacities has been outstanding.

Thank you to the U18 & U16 players who assisted me in umpiring the Friday night games and to the senior players who officiated on Sunday mornings along with Al Gribbin, Johnno and Gary Hall.

Thank you Matt Tayler and Matt Gourlay for their great support of our juniors over the season. Also to Lance, Ferg and the committee for their support of me once again as junior coordinator.

Thank you to Steve Campitelli for his brilliant work on the website and to Kathy Daniels who kept everyone fed on Friday Nights and Sunday morning. To all those who kept us up to date with weekly match reports – thank you. This is an important part of our Club culture – one that is envied by other Clubs as we continuously get some great feedback.

Thanks to all the boys and their parents and families for the support over the Summer. Cant wait for next season.

David Holland

Junior Coordinator

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U16 State League

This year the under 16 squad was a lot lighter than in previous years, with only the one team being entered for the age group. This gave us the opportunity to expose all our guys to a high standard of baseball, which will accelerate their development in the long term.

Without clear pitching options and with regular unavailability, we found it hard to maintain any consistency, and as such found the year to be a tough one from a win-loss perspective.

In the positive column, I think we saw the emergence of some players with some serious future potential.

Jack Dunn continued to show why he is one of the most accomplished players for his age, as he filled a variety of roles within the team. Jacks versatility was invaluable to fill any gaps in our defence, and his hitting was game changing.

Angus Octigan, is the quintessential quiet achiever. Able to play a variety of roles and does them all well. Throughout the season Angus also developed into a significant offensive threat, though he seems to like lining out to the pitcher a little too often!

Cruiz Leech took hold of the majority of the starting pitcher duties for the team, and as a bottom age player did extremely well under the circumstances. With another year or two of physical maturation I expect cruise to become a quality player on both the mound and in the batter’s box.

Archer Hall, took the move into the outfield in his stride, making centerfield his own. Archer also displayed his great hand eye coordination, able to square up even the most difficult of pitchers.

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U16 State League

Bailey Cotsis, filled the hole at second base for the majority of the year, making use of his great glove hand. With a bit more size he will be able to put his great skills into more effect and really influence the outcome of games.

Michael Moore, continues his development into being a standout player for his age group. His outfielding has improved out of sight, culminating in a great game against Essendon where he seemed to catch everything the opponents hit into play.

Shelby McKeown, was one of two primary catchers, and continues to work hard at his craft. The more games he plays the better his game knowledge becomes and in turn he will make a great catcher.

Noah Answeth, was fantastic in the batter’s box and at first base for us. Making a massive difference to the team batting depth and providing a hint of power.

Matt Holland is also developing into a ballplayer. His catching improved throughout the season and his timely contact hitting is getting better with each game he plays.

John-Paul Callil became the clown of our team, which is so important when you don’t win too many games. Additionally the guy can play! Whether it be shortstop, pitching or leading off he has all the talent needed to reach the highest levels of

baseball.

Jake Plumb joined the team part way through the year after not having played since little league in Western Australia. Jakes improvement was marked throughout the year most notably with his outstanding performance on the mound against the powerful Waverley side.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Adam Leech for being my assistant all year and filling in for me when other commitments made it tough for me to get to the games/training. Additionally Dave Holland has done a superb job as coordinator, scorer and everything else that he does for the club. The guy is a workhorse!

Finally thankyou to all the parents for bringing the boys to the games and for supporting the team through what was a tough season. Whether it was setting up the diamond, umpiring or remedial massage, we always had it covered.

Special mention to the young boys that I had the pleasure to coach, this year. Your enthusiasm through this season was fantastic, and made getting up early on a Sunday worth it.

All the best!

Russell Ferguson – Coach

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U18 State

For the second year in a row we were able to have two under 18 teams. We decided to train as one squad which meant we could get a full training session in most weeks with half decent numbers.

The season went along nicely with us forfeiting against the bottom team and losing to the top of the ladder Essendon when we were undermanned, these two were our only loses for the season. Not a bad effort since we played with 8 players most weeks!

With most of the boys playing out of position it was fun to watch them enjoy their baseball but also have the skills to still win.

This season saw us play the second annual teal game in memory of Gabby Taranto and we were lucky enough to be allowed to play the game on a Friday night in front of a big crowd in the wonderful teal tops. This year’s game was against local rivals Springvale who put on a ripper game but the good guys won with all a boys playing in their position and powered past them.

Finals came along and with all the boys being able to suit up into their positions we took on Berwick in the semi final and won by the 10 run rule which put us into the grand final.

Grand final day came along and the cream rose to the top in the under 18’s and the boys displayed that they were clearly the best team in the competition. Congratulations boys on the win.

I would like to congratulate Sam TB, Mitch, Sam Michael, Yuta, George, Jack and Max on making the Vic Blue side.

Also a huge congratulations George, Max, Mitch and Jack on being selected to play for Australia, both myself and the Club a very proud of you.

I would like to thank Steve "Scoop" Campitelli for being my scorer for the last two seasons; it makes my life easy knowing you are there every week.

I would like to thank Al Gribbon and Johnno for umpiring the home games and Dave Holland for being Mr. Everything.

Big thanks to Hoggy for helping out with trainings and being around when needed to help the team.

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U18 State

Lastly I would like to thank the club for letting me coach the under 18 team for the last 4 seasons. I have met some wonderful boys along the way and am proud to call them all my mates. But this season will be my last as I'm hanging up my coach’s hat for the time being. I have enjoyed my time and loved it every week but it's time for me to enjoy my Sunday mornings again during summer. Pat O’Neill - Coach

Go the Rustlers....,

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U18 Metro

This season we came home with a red flag (runners up).

We only managed to play 10 out of a possible 15 games during the regular season, with 2 byes, 2 walk overs and 1 washout. Of the 10 games we did play 4 of those were against Sandringham, which we split 2-2.

Each week was a challenge fielding a full side. Only 4 times we played with 9 U/18 players, 3 times we had U/16 players fill in for us and 3 times we played with only 8.

Saying that, we finished the season on 9 and a half wins and 2nd on the ladder. This gave us a home final against Upwey which we won 3-1 on the back of excellent pitching, good defence and timely hitting. It was a good close game and the boys were playing their best baseball at the right time of the year.

On to the grand final. We played Springvale who had been on top of the ladder all season. Unfortunately for us we didn't bring our A game but still went down swinging 5-4. We had our chances late in the game with the tying run on third in the last innings, but we just came up short.

Thank you to all the players, each week we didn’t know if we would have a team come Sunday, but to their credit, they would turn up week in week out and play some very good baseball. A special mention to Max Thompson, who played injured, played with crook ankles, played multiple positions but turned up every week and I was very disappointed that he couldn't play in the grand final. Thanks to the under 16 players who helped us out during the season and especially in the finals.

Thanks for Dave Holland, our Club Secretary, who worked tirelessly to make sure we had 2 under 18 teams each week, to Pat O’Neill, our successful under 18 state coach for organising training and resisting the urge to further weaken the metro side when he was short. Nearly cost him 2nd spot on the ladder.

Thanks to my assistant coaches Paul Cummings and Kable Hogben for their work during the season, to my official umpire Gavin Daniels, who did a great job behind the dish and thank you to my two scorers, Ros McKenna and Peter Leslie, who was also my statistician.

And thanks to Lance for asking me to manage the U/18 Metro side this season, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

And lastly to the guys in my team who have played their last junior game of

baseball, I hope you continue to play on in the future.

Trevor Hogben Under 18 Metro Coach - Season 2014/15

47

U18 Metro

PLAYERS FOR THIS SEASON.

Henry Beven Matt Cameron Gianni Caruso Jak Cummings Declan Chittenden Jack Daniels Sam Hayes Michael Leslie

Matt McKenna Max Thompson Rick Preston Luke Sexton Luke Porter Jack Dunn U/16 Matt Holland U/16 Michael Moore U/16 Angus Octigan U/16

48

FIRSTS

Unfortunately we again missed the finals by 1 spot., finishing 3rd in our conference and 5th Overall. We finished with a record of 15-10-2. We faced a continued battle with being able to put out best team on the park.

We are a little bit of a victim of our own success with a number of players being called away for representative duties. Ben Leslie and Lachlan Madden were both selected in the Australian U23 Team that played in the World Cup in Taiwan in November. Brad Harman, Ben and Lochy all missed significant games whilst playing with the Melbourne Aces. Mitch Holding , George Callil ,Jack Enciondo, Max Barrett , Sam Michael, Sam Trend Beacon, Jack Daniels and Jack Dunn all missed time due to representing Victoria in the National Under Age Championships. With Max, Jack E, Mitch and George missing further games after going away with the Australian U18 team to New Zealand.

That being said we were able to field teams each week. Our best was extremely good but unfortunately we lost too many games against bottom of the table teams costing us the chance to compete in finals. We seemed to walk a bit taller with Brad and Ben in the line-up and need to find ways and people to stand up in pressure situations.

Our focus at the start of the season was execution. To be an excellent defensive team built around strong fundamentals. Our offense to be built around being able to execute is all situations, whether that was to bunt a team mate over, put the ball on the ground to move your team mate up a base or come through with the hit when runners were in scoring positions. The hard truth is that we did not do these things consistently enough when it counted to seriously challenge for the finals. To truly be a championship calibre team we need to consistently be able to produce when it counts, when the pressure is at its greatest and as yet we as a group have not been able to do this.

A lifetime of experience was taken out at the end of the previous season with Hayden Dingle, Daniel Mack, John Edwards and Paul Weichard all not suiting up this season. We managed to talk Daniel into coming back to help out. So to lose that amount of talent and experience out of a line-up and win one more game this season than last meant that I believe we actually took a big step in consolidating and moving forward with a much younger group.

I am extremely proud that we gave opportunities to the fantastic group of younger players in the Firsts this season. These opportunities were not given because they were younger state players. They were given because they were deserved. In a one game this season we had 16, 17 & 18 year

49

FIRSTS

old pitchers throwing to a 17 year old catcher, a 17 and 19 year old in the Infield and a 16 year old in the outfield.

A massive congratulations to Matty G and his mighty Premiership winning 2’s team, awesome job. And to Pat and the 4’s winning their 5th flag, truly a special effort that the entire club is extremely proud of you blokes for.

Now for the thankyous, and with my job there is a lot of people to thank. For those I miss I apologise. Matty G, Stuey and Laurie are the greatest support to me. We are truly a coaching team and I am truly thankful for all they do. The Hogben husband and wife team of Chairman of Selectors and Scorer provide a great service to the club. Robyn trudges out to the late gate at Altona and gets home at midnight. Thankyou both for your efforts this season.

Thankyou to the Committee for giving me the opportunity to coach the club again this season. To Dave Holland for his live scorecast, being my help with both club and VBA matters I really appreciate your efforts.

And finally the players. To the players that bought into wanting to be a part of team culture and striving to get better each week I am eternally grateful. The group is not far off playing finals and in turn that elusive premiership. And I hope the foundations laid this year helps propel this club forward to future success.

Matthew Tayler – Club Coach

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FIRSTS

Firsts Players 2014-15

Back: Stuart Adams (AC), Laurie Hall (AC), Matt Gourlay (Pitching Coach), Dylan Trevorah, Brett Curnow, Matt Taylor (Club Coach), Bryan Kloppe, Kane Davidson, Daniel Mack, Brad Harman, Blake Cunningham, Max Barrett

Front: Nick Rossell, Mitch Holding, Sam Michael, Paul Rutgers, Lachy Madden, Ben Leslie, Andrew Gribbin

Also Played:

Brad Kmet, George Callil, Russell Ferguson, Kable Hogben, Sam Trend-Beacom, Jarrod Hall, Matt Carlile, Jack Daniels, Karl Mackay, Jack Enciondo, Michael Rizzi, Jack Dunn

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Team Stats - Cheltenham Firsts 2014-15 Batting Name G PA AB R H 1B 2B 3B HR RBI BB SB OBP SLG OPS AVG BA/RSP Dylan Trevorah 21 83 65 18 26 25 1 0 0 11 10 0 0.506 0.415 0.922 0.400 0.526 Daniel Mack 16 65 57 9 22 20 1 0 1 16 5 1 0.462 0.456 0.918 0.386 0.455 Ben Leslie 17 70 53 15 19 15 3 0 1 10 13 5 0.464 0.472 0.935 0.358 0.273 Brad Kmet 10 24 21 3 7 7 0 0 0 1 2 0 0.417 0.333 0.750 0.333 0.429 Paul Rutgers 27 117 102 18 34 26 5 1 2 21 12 0 0.414 0.461 0.875 0.333 0.359 Nick Rossell 27 116 99 22 31 25 3 1 2 14 9 14 0.389 0.424 0.814 0.313 0.276 Sam Michael 17 45 43 8 13 12 1 0 0 9 2 2 0.333 0.326 0.659 0.302 0.250 Brett Curnow 27 115 93 16 25 22 2 1 0 19 15 2 0.377 0.312 0.689 0.269 0.375 Andrew Gribbin 25 92 75 12 20 15 5 0 0 13 15 2 0.391 0.333 0.725 0.267 0.172 Mitch Holding 18 72 66 7 17 15 2 0 0 12 4 0 0.306 0.288 0.593 0.258 0.211 Brad Harman 16 66 47 13 12 6 4 0 2 8 18 1 0.462 0.468 0.930 0.255 0.333 Sam Trend Beacom 6 16 13 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 3 0 0.375 0.231 0.606 0.231 0.111 George Calill 13 49 44 4 10 9 1 0 0 5 3 2 0.271 0.250 0.521 0.227 0.176 Kane Davidson 16 55 40 9 7 6 1 0 0 6 12 0 0.377 0.200 0.577 0.175 0.200 Jarrod Hall 10 26 21 3 3 3 0 0 0 1 4 0 0.308 0.143 0.451 0.143 0.167 Russell Ferguson 5 11 11 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.091 0.091 0.182 0.091 0.000 Jack Daniels 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 Karl Mackay 3 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 Jack Dunn 3 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 Matt Carlile 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 Blake Cunningham 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 TOTALS 27 1024 852 165 250 199 29 3 8 146 127 29 0.394 0.363 0.757 0.293 0.297 Pitching Name G W L SV ShO IP BF Ball Str PIT R ERA K H BB GO AO Dylan Trevorah 1 0 0 0 0 2.00 9 14 22 36 0 0.00 0 2 1 2 3 Sam Trend Beacom 1 0 0 0 0 0.00 7 19 15 34 7 0.00 0 3 3 0 0 Bryan Kloppe 13 3 2 2 0 57.67 263 341 558 899 31 2.28 16 64 19 80 60 Blake Cunningham 18 7 2 1 1 72.00 312 367 658 1025 32 2.70 45 67 21 78 80 Russell Ferguson 6 0 0 2 0 11.00 54 81 127 208 7 4.55 8 11 9 15 9 Max Barrett 9 2 2 0 0 22.67 107 168 197 365 14 4.59 9 25 16 29 23 Kable Hogben 4 0 0 1 0 7.33 31 49 64 113 4 4.91 7 5 3 6 7 Lachlan Madden 13 1 4 1 0 24.00 119 179 237 416 15 5.43 15 22 17 24 28 Jack Enciondo 6 1 0 1 0 10.33 57 93 119 212 14 9.87 7 11 13 10 15 Kane Davidson 2 1 0 0 0 1.67 15 22 30 52 7 37.80 2 7 3 0 3 TOTALS 27 15 10 8 1 208.67 974 1333 2027 3360 131 4.13 109 217 105 244 228 Fielding Name ERR PO A SBA CS DP PB FP AP1 AP2 AP3 AP4 AP5 AP6 AP7 AP8 AP9 Matt Carlile 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jarrod Hall 0 5 10 0 0 0 0 1.000 0 0 0 0 9 22 0 0 11 Andrew Gribbin 0 18 1 0 0 0 0 1.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 47 0 26 Bryan Kloppe 0 3 13 0 0 1 0 1.000 60 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Blake Cunningham 0 4 4 0 0 0 0 1.000 75 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Karl Mackay 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Lachlan Madden 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 1.000 28 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Brad Kmet 0 22 3 3 1 0 2 1.000 0 45 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 Mitch Holding 0 102 7 8 2 15 5 1.000 0 61 69 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kane Davidson 1 63 7 5 4 1 4 0.986 2 107 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Brad Harman 3 49 34 0 0 11 0 0.965 0 0 41 8 0 57 0 0 0 Daniel Mack 2 40 2 0 0 3 0 0.955 0 0 41 0 7 0 0 0 0 Dylan Trevorah 5 53 44 0 0 15 0 0.951 3 0 0 149 0 0 0 0 0 Paul Rutgers 4 62 7 0 0 2 0 0.945 0 0 19 12 22 0 158 0 0 Nick Rossell 4 63 1 0 0 0 0 0.941 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 203 0 Ben Leslie 2 27 1 0 0 1 0 0.933 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 110 George Calill 5 22 40 0 0 11 0 0.925 0 0 0 17 0 87 0 0 0 Brett Curnow 11 67 62 0 0 13 0 0.921 0 0 41 7 127 39 0 0 0 Sam Michael 3 18 8 0 0 2 0 0.897 0 0 0 5 16 0 0 2 56 Russell Ferguson 2 4 6 0 0 1 0 0.833 12 0 0 9 17 0 0 0 0 Max Barrett 1 2 2 0 0 1 0 0.800 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jack Enciondo 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0.750 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sam Trend Beacom 6 5 7 0 0 1 0 0.667 1 0 0 10 17 9 0 0 1 Kable Hogben 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jack Daniels 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 50 633 264 16 7 32 11 0.947 229 215 213 217 215 214 214 215 215

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SECONDS

AS the Seconds coach, it’s not all about winning each week as much as it is developing junior and senior players to make the step to the next level. Fortunately this year we were able to do both.

With a team E.R.A. of 1.60 and a team batting average of 0.342, we finished the regular season on top with just the 1 loss (2 to 1 against Blackburn).

Our hitting was led by Jarrod Hall, Matt Carlile, Brad Kmet, Michael Rizzi and Karl Mackay. They hit a combined 0.384. But not to be overshadowed were our junior players in Jack Dunn 0.485, Sam Trend-Beacom 0.400, Jack Daniels 0.350 and Michael Leslie 0.386.

We also had Games played this season by Sam Michael, Kane Davidson, Dylan Trevorah, Mitch Holding, Daniel McLean, Pat DiServi, Adam Leech, Matt Cameron, George Callil, Koji Campitelli, Stuart Adam, Andrew Gribbin, Daniel Mack, Declan Chittenden, Noah Answerth and Blake Cunningham.

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SECONDS

Our pitching was outstanding all season no matter who was on the mound. Sam Michael and Sam Trend Beacom were our early season pitchers and set the tone for how we were going to play this season. The middle part of the season saw us use Russell Ferguson, Jack Enciondo, Bryan Kloppe and Kable Hogben. We went through a 6 game stretch only allowing 3 earned runs.

After Christmas and down the home straight.

Due to having so many junior players representing Victoria and Australia, we needed someone to step up. D.W.B! Daniel Ward Bourton threw in the 1st two games after Christmas and was incredible. 11 innings for just 1 run allowed. 2 wins and a 0.82 E.R.A. Russell Ferguson and Jack Enciondo only got better as the season went on and were hitting form heading into finals. Karl Mackay was our closer. Throwing a very hard and heavy ball, the opposition hitters found facing him wasn’t much fun. 9 inning for the season, 3 saves and an E.R.A of 0.00.

Onto the finals where we would play Geelong at home.

The boys were nervous and it showed. But to their credit, they played hard and were determined to get the job done. It was the perfect game we needed for us to win the flag. Obviously if we lost that game, it was season over. But to get pushed all the way, which didn’t happen too often during the season, and come out on top was a massive confidence boost heading into the grand final.

On a perfect Sunday afternoon, we played Essendon for the grand final in front of a fantastic home crowd. Jack Enciondo gave us 5 1/3 strong inning and Russell Ferguson shut the door with a dominant 1 2/3 innings. It was a tough hitting day with the wind blowing in but we were able to capitalize on a couple of Essendon errors to put up 3 runs in the 2nd inning. Our defence was great and were able to make all the key outs when it counted.

A 3 to 0 win and we are the Division 1 reserves premiers!

A massive thankyou to our scorer Michael Gourlay.

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SECONDS

Thankyou Matt Tayler for having the belief in me to let me coach my way. You have made this club better.

Thankyou to the coaches in Stuart Adam and Laurie Hall. We couldn’t have done this without you guys.

Thank you to my players! I have enjoyed this season with you guys as much as any! Thank you for playing your hearts out for me!

Matty G

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THIRDS

The year went well with Larky in full control of what was a very young side with the exception of Brad, Daniel and I.

We struggled most weeks in the pitching department only being left with whichever Under 18 hadn’t pitched in the morning game. Thankfully we had Larky in the first 6-8 rounds to recover some stability in defence.

We didn’t win many games in the first half but nobody could ever doubt the fight in this young team. Many games would see us right in with a chance only to have a few minor errors or missed opportunities see the game taken from our grip.

Unfortunately things didn’t improve once I took over and I only felt that these guys needed a wiser head than mine. Thanks to Ferg for coming down and helping out most weeks, your knowledge was invaluable.

Our pitching was handled most weeks by Matt Cameron, Jak Cummings and Daniel Mclean; unfortunately we realized Dan could pitch about 15

games too late.

Thanks to Peter Leslie, Julie Cameron and Roslyn McKenna for sharing the scoring duties throughout the season. Thanks to Colin Upfill for umpiring our home games! Thanks again to Ferg for his assistance. I would also like to thank Brad Lark for his efforts at the beginning of the season. You were greatly missed. Look forward to a dinner at the restaurant.

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THIRDS

Thirds Main stayers – 2014 – 15

Matthew Cameron Declan Chittendon Jak Cummings Paul Cummings Matthew Holland Michael Leslie Daniel McLean Michael Moore Angus Octigan Rick Preston James Upfill

Also Played Noah Answerth, Peter Burdett, Henry Bevan, Jack Daniels, Jack Dunn, Russell Ferguson, Jarrod Hall, Brad Heenan, David Johnson, Bryan Kloppe, Brad Lark, Adam Leech, Ben Leslie, Naoki Liu, Karl Mackay, Matt McKenna, Michael Rizzi, Dylan Trevorah, Daniel Ward-Bourton

MVP :- Daniel Mclean Golden Glove :- Ricky Preston Coaches Award :- Angus Octigan Paul Cummings

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FOURTHS

This season Baseball Victoria sucked the fun out of playing in the lower grades and made us swing wooden bats.

So instead of massive blow out wins for us we had some hard scrapped games.

The season started with a loss for us and a few people at the club started to question whether the premiership run would be over. But true to the 4s way we fought all year riding on the back of some strong pitching from DWB to finish second and then play off against the local rivals in Sandringham in the grand final.

Well the rest is history and we won our 5th straight flag.

The team celebrated and enjoyed the win like it was our first and now have plans to go 6peat.

I would like to thank Dave Holland for being our scorer, Al Gribbon for umpiring and all the junior parents and players who put fines into our tin so that we could have a massive grand final party.

Bring on next year where we will be the hunted once again …..which we love!

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FOURTHS

59

FIFTHS Division 4 South After being asked last season by Paul Cummings to not only manage a couple of games last season, but to take on the managing role of the Fifths, and being one of the only Fifths players to play more than a couple of seasons at Chelt, I thought I'd better step up and give it a go. There was some reluctance from other players to take up the position of catcher so with some experience I again took it on. Even though I don't have much of an arm, it's easy to keep an eye on your pitcher from this position and truth be told I'm not the infielder I was as a junior.

As predicted most of the previous season's juniors had moved up to the Thirds leaving some of last season’s rookies and several new faces to make up the team. We managed to hold on to Matthew McKenna who not only is a reliable batter and infielder but to his surprise became our starting pitcher for the first few games. An addition to the squad was Michael "Buzz" Woods who asked if he could play with the Fifths and ended up leading off the batting and also pitched a few innings throughout the season. He could pick a walk, was a powerful hitter and also executed a great running bunt in our last game. He brought along friend Tom Senior who although new to the game quickly learnt several subtle aspects of the game such as always volunteering to base coach and also proved to be a reliable batter.

Returning from last season was Aaron Gale who in two years has tried to learn as much as he can about baseball and took on the starting pitcher role after Matt was moved up to the Thirds. He asked every question he could regarding pitching even inquiring as to whether it's legal to pick-off an unoccupied base in order to catch out another base runner. While watching the Chelt vs. Geelong game at Altona he was disgusted to learn that you can intentionally walk a batter only to ask me the following Sunday if we could walk the only batter that got a hit against him. He also helped manage the team by giving input, going to team selections and sending out text messages to organise training sessions. Also coming back were two reliable hitters Kane Abbey who after fighting back leg injuries and finding the plate, threw some serious fast balls and infielder Robbie Jaspers who after we gave up a 15 to 3 lead and then allow a 16 to 15 sure win to Waverley and then make a comeback, got a base hit that sealed a 17 to 16 win. Along with this group of players was Declan Jaspers who continued to lead the league in hit by pitched balls (I didn't actually check this stat) and continued to improve his hitting throughout the season. His enthusiasm and team spirit were always consistent with the cry "Go Rustlers!" continually heard from either right field or the dugout.

New addition and absolute natural sportsman was Pat Kean who like all of these guys has taken to baseball well above all expectations. He could hit, he could lead off, he jumped at the chance at pitching and listened to every piece of coaching, but most of all he could steal bases. It seemed as though any throw around the infield was a chance for him to advance another base and with any miss-field he made opposition teams pay for it. Another new guy to baseball and

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FIFTHS Division 4 South father of a junior was David Steere. It may have taken some time for him to get the idea that you have to hold up on a fly-ball but he too had some running speed and became one of our most reliable batters, knowing how to pick a walk and being a very strong hitter. Another father of a junior who also played the last couple of winters was Michael Phillips. He had one kind of swing when at bat and that was the power swing. This swing came into full effect when against Doncaster, the lefty put one over the right field fence for a grand slam home run. Another highlight from Michael was with two strikes and two outs he too laid down the perfect running bunt to make it to first.

I have never seen a bunch of guys take to something like these guys have taken to baseball. Although we didn't have a lot of experience we came together each week like a team that had been playing together for years. We missed out on finals this season by one place but will be looking to come back next season to make the final four.

Thank you very much to Mark "Cambo" Campbell for coming down almost every game to help manage the side. Him helping to coach third, throwing batting practice, letting scorers know of changes, letting me know when to pull a pitcher and even filling in to play several games, was most valuable especially when, as a catcher I would often be busy warming up pitchers or organising the team. I am especially thankful for his advice to not only myself but to the whole team and for him, on one occasion settling the players down after an on field incident.

Special thanks to Russell Ashen and Antony Harrowell for not only coming down and filling in several games but for also pitching almost complete games when required. On several occasions they would make their availability known to me before they even needed to be asked showing they are truly great Chelt club men. Thanks to Darren Hiddlestone for coming down and getting a couple of hits and to John Fairweather for umpiring several home games. Thanks also to Roslyn McKenna, Jackie Phillips, Jo Campbell and Jake Harrowell for scoring.

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MASTERS CHELTENHAM MASTERS 2014 -15 SEASON (YOUNG AT HEART – SLIGHTLY OLDER IN OTHER PLACES)

Won 10 lost 5 Enjoyed them All.

A very successful season and a third place finish, losing to Bonbeach 0-1 after 10 innings in an epic semi final that extended over two evenings.

We were the only team in the competition to defeat the Springvale Tomatoes who were the eventual premiers and when we put it all altogether, the team produced some excellent and entertaining baseball..

A good indication of the depth and evenness of the team’s performance was that 9 different players were judged to be the Best On Ground during the season and 13 players received votes.

Our pitchers Lance Blackley, Anthony Bowley, Brad Lark and Darren Hiddlestone, shared the load and produced strong starting performances and the depth and versatility in the bullpen kept us in all the games and provided plenty of chances for the hitters to win them. Lance Blackley was 4W-2L over 31 innings of work and Anthony Bowley was 5-2 over 28 innings. Darren Hiddlestone (10 inns) and Brad Lark (6 inns) provided the depth in the bullpen. Rookie pitcher Paul Kilburn brought an outstanding fast ball and showed great promise in his limited opportunities and would have been very good if he had managed to get anyone out.

John Fairweather carried most of the load on aging knees behind the plate and handled his pitchers brilliantly. Young master rookie Mark Lewis also returned to the game to play behind the plate and showed touches of his former class before going onto disabled list for an extended period with a hand injury.

Our MVP Adam Leech batted in the important number 3 hole all year and

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MASTERS consistently piled up hits including many for extra bases. Mark Campbell carried a big bat to the plate especially with men on base prior to Christmas

Infielders David Johnson (3B), Joey Tucker (SS) , Peter Burdett (2B) and Mark Campbell (1B) developed into a stable defensive unit and turned more than their share of double plays. Darren Hiddlestone did an outstanding job as an outfielder and utility infielder. Joey Tucker at shortstop turned games around with his glove and he was consistently outstanding and sometimes brilliant as he glued the infield together with a quality of play not often seen in a Master’s game.

Our outfielders Paul Kilburn, Adam Leech Anthony Bowley, Rod Hind, Brad Lark, pounded the ball and provided solid support in the field all season that kept most of the opposition hitters to single bases. Rod Hind’s mobility in the field as well as his enthusiasm and aggression on the bases added a great deal of value to the team.

The Bench was filled out by Chris Reece and Russell Ashen who both made valuable contributions when they were available.

The team’s major strength lay in it’s batting and our hitters consistently put up good at bats and pressured the opposition pitchers. Brad Lark batted .650 BA with 13 hits in 10 games and many walks to lead the team with Darren Hiddlestone on .550 BA (22 hits in 13 games) and Adam Leech who tapered off to only .512 BA ( 21 hits in 15 games ) close behind.. Seven other players had batting averages over .350.

During the season home runs were hit by John Fairweather, Paul Kilburn and Darren Hiddlestone who belted a moon shot on to the pavilion on Sandy Outer.

Anthony Bowley had a great season and was the Runner Up in MVP voting with 12 hits (BA .387) as well as producing 5-2 Win/Loss record over 28 inns with an impressive 25 K’s and only 24 hits.

Thanks to Bev Blackley our scorer and statistician for her meticulous record keeping and advice,.

Our special thanks also to our catering services department led by Katrina Johnson and Andrea Bowley and the BBQ efforts of Brad Heenan in helping feed the multitudes at our home games.

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MASTERS

Award Winners

MVP: Adam Leech

Batting Average: Brad Lark 0.650

Big Game Specialist: Anthony Bowley

Manager: John Ferguson Assistant Manager: Lance Blackley

64

TEAL NIGHT

On a hot February Friday evening the 2nd Annual Teal Game was held in memory of Gabby Taranto (pic left) Gabby, a much-missed club member, passed away from ovarian cancer and the game is held to honour her memory and to raise funds for research into the disease.

The game was played between the Cheltenham State League Under 18 side and Springvale with the home team winning the game 4-0 - a nice one to win but the main aim of the night was to pay tribute to Gabby.

Husband Phil and sons Ryan, who tossed out the first pitch, and Stefan, who presented the Best on Ground Medallion, were all there representing the Taranto Family.

A very humbling experience to be a part of, credit to the club for organising it.

The match report: A big game for the club with the State 18s facing off against Springvale in the second annual Teal Game where the club pays tribute to Gabby Taranto, a much–missed club member who passed away from ovarian cancer. Gabby’s family were there – Phil and boys Stefan and Ryan – to see the Chelt guys run out winners 4-0. Played in front of a decent crowd in perfect conditions, with the first pitch thrown out by Ryan Taranto, the game was a stalemate through 4 innings and was threatening to turn into a 0-0 draw when Chelt erupted for 4 runs in the 5th which turned out to be all the runs for the game. Credit to the Springy pitchers, they kept it tight, but the Chelt hitters were not to be denied and the team 8 hits to Springvale’s 2 told the difference: led by 2 hits to both Sam TB and Naoki Liu, and single hits to Sam Michael, Mitch, Jack and Yuta.

Pitching duties were handled by Jack Enciondo (2 inn, 0H, 4K, 0R), Max Barrett (3 inn, 1H, 5K, 0R) and Sam Michael (2 inn, 1H, 1K, 0R) who combined beautifully on a 2 hit shutout.

In a tough choice that could have gone to a few players, Sam Michael deservedly emerged with the Gabby Taranto medal for best player of the game for his combined pitching-hitting performance – well done Sammie.

A great win, a great night, played in good spirit by both clubs. This one’s for you Gab……………………………………………………… From Steve “Scoop” Campitelli

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TEAL NIGHT

66

Club Centenary

In 2015, the club celebrated its centenary - a combined 100 years of the Prahran and Cheltenham Baseball Clubs 1914-2014 (the clubs merged in 1972).

On that evening, "Cheltenham's 50 Finest" were selected, and also honoured its 1000 Game Players - on this page you can read about those people and see some pictures of the evening.

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CHELTENHAM BASEBALL CLUB INC 100 YEAR CELEBRATION THE FINEST 50 + COACHES AND SCORERS / SERVICE AWARDS / 1000 + GAMES

Centre Field

Laurie Hall Ken Hewitt

Left Field Gordon Lochhart Right Field Service Awards

Matthew Gourlay Simon Myles Peter Finney Raelene Tanner

Kevin Knorr Col Hyland Nola Burdett Paul Rutgers Terry Reid Ralph Bailey

Len Le Page

Steve Bott Graeme & Joy Lewis

Short Stop Second Base John & Grace Stewart

Russell Ferguson Paul Ferguson Bert Calvert

Ross Upfill Gordon Tamblyn Therese Connor Dav Whatmore Col Wale Keith & Wendy Johnson

Pauline Stenhouse

Judy Williams Bev Blackley

Pitcher Peter Leslie

Steve Babidge Travis Blackley Adam Blackley Ron Brownlees

Third Base Ross Chapman Greg Brown Daryn Cassidy First Base

Bill Anderson Blake Cunningham Steve Gourlay Bruce Lines Hayden Dingle

John Ferguson Jack Middleton Norm Nancarrow Andrew Russell Tony Dinnie George Ingram Jim Scott Alan Tanner Jack Wadsworth Lance Purton

Daniel Mack Darren Smith

1000 + Games

Peter Burdett Laurie Hall

Coaches Catcher Designated Hitter Colin Upfill

Jack Ferguson Leo Anderson Fred Capper

Allan Burdett Jim Beitzel Andrew Gribbin

David Clarkson Jack Ferguson Trevor Hogben Jim Upfill Glen Siddel Max Johanson Jnr

Mick Trevorah Kevin Williams

Ted Wale

Scorers

Meg Clarkson Jean Corney Harry Fowler Michael Gourlay Robyn Hogben Molly Knorr Liz Landry

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Slow Pitch… Fast Tracked!

SLOW PITCH BASEBALL COMES TO CHELT.....from John Ferguson

Towards the end of this Summer Season Cheltenham trialed pickup games of Slow Pitch Baseball with considerable success, generating a lot of interest and more importantly, a lot of fun for the people that played. The games between teams comprising the dads and mums of our players and other people around the Club against the Little League Junior Mariners were terrific and the Sandringham component of the Mariners have already indicated that they will be issuing the Rustlers with a challenge for a slow pitch game in the near future.

In the Slow Pitch version of the game of baseball, the major emphasis is on hitting and fielding NOT pitching. Slow pitch is played with a reduced injury baseball and can be enjoyed by players of all skill levels especially those new to the sport. Every player feels comfortable at the plate, there are no collisions and no-one gets injured. Families are encouraged to play in the same team. Timing and reflex-related skills are not issues when playing slow pitch. The game is simply about participation and having fun. It is a great way for “newbies’ to gain firsthand experience of the thrill to cross the white lines and to learn the rules of the game.

Baseball is a great game but there are only 43 000 registered players in Australia or about 1.1 % of the people actively engaged in sport and the game desperately needs to grow. Many families only find out about the game when their children take up Tee ball or when they drop out of cricket and the other sports. There has been no easy entry point for those who have not followed the traditional path through Tee ball to Little League to Juniors and the Seniors.

Slow Baseball fills that gap and the Club is fully committed to establishing a short season Slow Pitch League (6-8 games) next Summer.

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CLUB AWARDS Rookie of the Year

The Club wishes to congratulate this year’s Rookie of the Year – U16 player Jack Dunn.

Jack has had a terrific season both with the U16 State League side and a regular in our Premiership winning Seconds.

Jack also made his debut in the Firsts against Melbourne in January with his first Div 1 at-bat.

On top of this he was our sole U16 representative in the victorious Victorian Blue team and last year was selected in the Australian U15 side which travelled to South America.

We look forward to a bright future for Jack at Cheltenham. (….just don’t forget your first coach!)

Congratulations Jack on fine season from all at CBC!

2014-15 Achievements: U16 MVP CBC Rookie of the Year U15 Australian Representative U16 Batting Award (0.412) U16 State Representative 2nds Batting Award (0.485) ------

Junior Coach of the Year Junior Clubman of the Year

Val Langworthy Jack Daniels

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Southern Mariners Charter

Mariners are entering a very exciting time in the evolution of Little League in Australia. This year the concept has been expanded to U14’s (Little League Junior), U12’s (Little League Major) and U10’s (Little League Minor). This gives greater opportunity for more kids to get the experience of playing tournaments and representative baseball than the previous Victorian U14’s model.

Over the Australia Day long weekend the Mariners Junior league side competed in the Victoria Championships and earned the right to progress to the National Championships which will be held over Easter in Qld by finishing second. The team played some seriously good baseball over the three days and will give a good account of themselves in Qld.

The Victorian Little League Major and Minor tournaments will be held over the last weekend of the Easter school holidays 10, 11 & 12 April. The Little League U12 Major side can progress to the National Championships if it finishes in the top 3. The teams have been selected and will be doing their best.

Cheltenham Representatives:

Little League Junior Little League Major John Paul Callil Rhys Fairweather Darcy Trewarn Blake Holding Ben Fierenzi Shelby Roberts Connor Myles Josh Ashen Declan Crocker Cam Zimmerman Jed Woodger Dylan Williamson Will Tucker Josh Tribe Mack Turley Dante Caruso Coaches Coaches John Carlile Russell Ferguson Simon Myles Kane Davidson Matt Carlile Alan Tanner

Little League Major Development;

Genevieve Beacom Ben Morgan Ben Campbell Jack Octigan Hanami Campitelli Cooper Williamson Brad Earle Travis Finney Coaches Ryan Langworthy Ronnie Carothers Kody Lewis Mitch Holding Sam Trend-Beacom

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2014-15 AWARDS

UNDER 12'S UNDER 12 STATE MVP Award Batting Award Pitching Award John Fairweather Cameron Zimmerman Dylan Williamson (0.593) Josh Ashen

UNDER 12 METRO MVP Award Batting Award Coaches Award Val Langworthy Hanami Campitelli Josh Tribe (0.530) Nic Volpe / Ryan Langworthy

UNDER 12 YANKEES MVP Award Most Improved Coaches Award Val Langworthy Travis Finney Chris Tsakamakis Genevieve Beacom

UNDER 12 GIANTS Batting Award Most Improved Rookie Award Mark Campbell Ryan McCall (0.611) Bailey McKinnon Ben Tilbrook

UNDER 12 BRAVES Most Improved Batter Most Improved Pitcher Best Team Player John Fairweather Charles Kilburn Kellon Hill Nic Volpe

UNDER 14'S UNDER 14 STATE WHITE MVP Award (joint) MVP Award (joint) Batting Award John Carlile Jed Woodger Declan Croker Dante Caruso

UNDER 14 STATE BLUE MVP Award Batting Award Most Improved Anthony Bowley Ben Fierenzi Ben Fierenzi (0.500) Darcy Trewarn

UNDER 14 A Batting Award Pitching Award Coaches Award Craig Sexton Ben Fierenzi Keiran Moran Christopher Neilson

UNDER 14 B MVP Award Pitching Award Hustle Award Bryan Kloppe Jed Woodger Declan Croker Matt Coe

UNDER 14 C MVP Award (joint) MVP Award (joint) R/UP MVP Joe Caruso Dante Caruso Darcy Trewarn Jake Hallowell

UNDER 16'S UNDER 16 MAJOR MVP Award Batting Award Coaches Award Russell Ferguson Jack Dunn Jack Dunn (0.412) Jake Plumb

GRAND SLAMS Ryan McCall v Sandringham Kings 20th Feb 2015 CLUB AWARDS Best Junior Coach Val Langworthy Life Members Perpetual Cup - Best Junior Clubman Jack Daniels

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2014-15 AWARDS

UNDER 18'S UNDER 18 STATE LEAGUE Kevin Williams Memorial MVP Batting Award Most Improved Sam Michael Sam Trend-Beacom (0.515) Naoki Liu

UNDER 18 METRO MVP Award (joint) MVP Award (joint) Batting Award LEAGUE Matthew Cameron Jack Daniels Michael Leslie (0.435)

SENIORS MVP Award Batting Award Big Game Specialist DIVISION 2 STH MASTERS Adam Leech Brad Lark (0.650) Anthony Bowley

DIVISION 4 STH 5THS MVP Award Batting Award Rookie Award Aaron Gale David Steere (0.500) Pat Kean

DIVISION 1 4THS MVP Award Batting Award MVPink Pat Di Siervi Adam Leech (0.490) Naoki Liu

DIVISION 1 3RDS MVP Award Golden Glove Coaches Award Daniel McLean Ricki Preston Angus Octigan

DIVISION 1 RESERVES MVP Award Batting Award Coaches Award Jarrod Hall Jack Dunn (0.485) Karl Mackay

FIRST NINE Gwen & Len LePage MVP Gwen & Len LePage MVP Batting Award Paul(joint) Rutgers Bryan(joint) Kloppe Dylan Trevorah(0.400)

CLUB AWARDS JUNIOR CHAMPION Mitch Holding

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR Jack Dunn

GOLDEN GLOVE AWARD George Callil (Donated by John Ferguson) BEST SENIOR CLUBMAN David Holland

GRAND SLAM Daniel Mack Div 1 Firsts v Sandringham 25/11/14

SHUT OUTS Jack Enciondo Under 18 State v Waverley 19/10/14

Max Barrett Under 18 State v Springvale 2/11/14

Jack Enciondo Under 18 State v Blackburn 9/11/14

Sam Michael Under 18 State v Doncaster 14/12/14 NO HITTER

Dan Ward-Bourton Div 1 4ths v Upwey FG 21/10/14

Dan Ward-Bourton Div 1 4ths v Waverley SF 22/2/15

Blake Cunningham Div 1 Firsts v Waverley 3/10/14

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Life Membership – David Coppens

David has assisted in coaching and umpired many of the lower level senior games tor a period of 10-12 years and even played at least one game when a team was short.

He also provided support to his son, Andrew Coppens during Andrew’s 4 years as Treasurer of the Summer Club, doing some of the book work, banking and collecting money from the Club.

In recent years he has continued to assist with the field set up and umpiring on Friday nights adding his considerable depth of baseball knowledge and experience to help the Club present our game and Club to new players and importantly their parents in the best possible light. David has become a fixture as the Chief Umpire for Friday Night David Coppens is proposed for Life Grand Finals. Membership of the Cheltenham Baseball Club in recognition of his outstanding Over his 30 years with the Club David services and commitment to the Club as a always been one of the first to volunteer his junior coach and umpire for the past 30 assistance when something needed to be years. done. He has been one of the foundations stones on which the success of our Club has David started out in 1985 initially as a been built since moving to the parent helping out in tee ball before Kingstonheath Reserve in 1985. becoming a coach in1986. He coached at the TeeBall level for 7 seasons with the David’s contributions over the many Saints and the Cheltenham All Star seasons he has been involved as a member representative teams that dominated that of our Club have been invaluable and your era when there were usually about 30 endorsement and support of this Life teams entered in the annual tournaments. Membership Proposal is strongly recommended. Following his sons, Andrew and Mathew, he progressed on to coaching junior teams for Moved – John Ferguson a further 7 seasons as the boys moved up Seconded – Brad Lark through our Under 12, Under 14 and Under Passed Unanimously 16's teams along the way.

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Life Membership Proposal – Matthew Gourlay

outstanding role model and mentor for many players, particularly as they moved from the junior to senior ranks. Matthew was Club Coach and Manager of the Summer Firsts from 2004- 2008 and is currently the Senior Pitching Coach and Manager of the Reserves in our Summer Competitions

Always the ultimate team player and Club person Matthew can always be relied upon to be available, ready to play and to get the job done. His commitment to the Club has been outstanding especially during any difficult times Matthew Gourlay is proposed for Life when we have needed a committed and Membership of the Cheltenham Baseball Club in inspirational leader on the field. As our first recognition of his outstanding services and signed professional he will always hold a unique commitment to the Club both as a player, a position in our Club. coach and ambassador for the Club over the past 24 years. It has been a great pleasure and privilege to be associated with Matthew as he has moved Matthew commenced playing as an 11 year old through his many roles as a member of our Club in our Friday Night Competition, totally new to and your endorsement and support of this Life the sport of baseball and continued on to play Membership Proposal is strongly both Summer and Winter at every opportunity, recommended. quickly becoming a regular member of the Sunday All Star junior teams. Baseball Awards From the Under 14 level starting in 1993, he played in every Victorian Team State and DBA 1993 Vic U14 representative team he was eligible for and was 1994, 1995 Vic U16 selected in Australian Teams in the Under 16 1995 Australia U16 Team Captain and Under 18 Age Groups. 1996 Vic U18 and Australia U18 ABL Pitcher for Reds In 1996 Matthew signed a contract with the 2003-04 Div 2 Club MVP Toronto Blue Jays and played 4 seasons of 2003-04 Div 2 Club Batting professional baseball as a pitcher for both the 2008 DBA A Grade Triple Crown Jays and the Minnesota Twins. During that time (.475 Batting Ave, Home Run Title (9) and Matthew was also contracted to play with the RBI Leader) very successful Waverly Reds Team in the 2008 APBL All Star Australian Baseball league. 2009-10 Div 1 Club MVP Matthew has won many MVP and Batting 2010/11 Div 1 Home Run Title awards at both Club and League levels. 2011/ 12 Claxton Shield Rep

Matthew has managed and coached many Moved: Laurie Hall junior and senior teams over both Summer and Winter seasons with considerable success and Seconded: Michael Trevorah even more importantly, he has been a Passed Unanimously

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! !

Tee Ball Summer Season 2014-15

! ! END OF SEASON WRAP-UP What a great summer season we’ve had at Tee-Ball.

We welcomed back some experienced players who provided excellent leadership and mentoring to new team members. An exciting group of young players also joined us and it was great to see them progress and learn the game over the weeks.

All the players have improved their skills over the season and have enjoyed playing the game. It was great to see the kids cheering on their team-mates, sliding into bases (whether it was necessary or not), and often surprising themselves with catches. Although the highlight may have been the industrial sprinkler Peter turned on at the end of a particularly hot game!!!

The season was a great successful and a huge thanks to the Coordinator, Peter and the coaches, Adam, Sam, Joey and Kris. A big thanks to our sponsor Bendigo Bank.

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CUBS

Coach : Joey Tucker Assistant Coach: Cameron Hallowell Team Manager: Jason Clark

Players Lucas Tucker Ethan Joseph Kai Leitch Skye Baker-McDonald Harry Lanaway Reilly Clark Ben Halloway Marcus Joseph Angus Sustek !!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!Persistence pays off.

Cubs players have improved gradually throughout the season with basic skills such as base running, fielding, and batting all improving. At the beginning of the season, not many knew what each position was, but now I can tell any player to go to a position and they know where to go. The kids seem to be enjoying it and having fun. That’s what it’s all about.

Ben Hallowell is the oldest and best all around player. Batting is his strength. Ethan Joseph and Kai Leitch have improved their fielding but the real stand out is the improvement in their batting. Lucas Tucker, Skye Baker-McDonald, Harry Lanaway and Reilly Clark couldn’t catch a ball or bat at the beginning of the season and now they all can with their batting most improved. Marcus Joseph and Angus Sustek joined us late in the season, so they are still learning the game.

All players had great enthusiasm and were easy to manage (considering their age!). It was a pleasure helping them to become better, more confident players. Thanks to all the parents for helping out when needed. I hope to see everyone back at the club next year.

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DODGERS

Coach: Adam Leech Assistant Coach: Andrew Coombs

Players Miller Leech Harvey Coombs Joseph Zoghbi Sam McConnell Jordon Rogers Elijah Lain Alex Pettigrew ! !

Confident Dodgers had a great season.

The Dodgers started the season with a nice mix of new and returning players.

Sam, Jordon and Elijah showed real improvement each week. In Sam’s first week ever he made it home safely with each hit and Jordon and Elijah’s confidence grew with each game.

Harvey and Alex became really strong hitters, often sending the ball way into the outfield. We often hear other coaches telling their players to watch out for the big hitters. Miller and Joseph rounded out our team as consistent fielders and all round great team members. Both boys are also excellent hard hitters.

As a team the boys were good sports (most of the time!) and really enjoyed each match, which is what we are there to do.

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PIRATES Coach: Kristian Bouker Assistant Coach: Richard Elton

Players Joel Bouker Brandon Elton James Kousides Sam Foster Archer Oldham Hunter Wicking Tyler Guistiniano Easten Dick

An excellent season for a well-rounded team.

The Pirates have had a great season and it was great to see all the boys improving over the year.

Archer’s running of the bases has been great all season and his batting, throwing and fielding have!made him a very complete player. Brandon’s willingness to back up his team mates in the field are a great part of his game, his batting has also improved over the season due to him swinging harder. With a perfect his swing all he needed to do it harder, which he did.

Easton’s batting showed big improvement as he learnt to hit the ball where he wanted to give him the best chance of getting on base. Hunter ran hard on the bases and by the end of the season he was hitting the ball harder and away from first base meaning a lot more safe hits.

James’s batting has significantly improved as well as his glove work. His picking up and! catching of the ball has been great. Joel had an awesome season with the bat, he hits hard and far along the ground and in the air, consistently hitting doubles and backing it up by running hard on the bases.

Sam has improved his whole game. Batting was his biggest improver as he started swinging harder. His fielding and willingness to throw himself at a base were something to see. Tyler was another big hitter who often smacked double’s and can run hard. He has a great arm and can field anywhere.

To Richard Elton who helped me out all season and to all the Pirates and parents thank you for a fun and positive season, hopefully see you all next year.

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ORIOLES Coach&'&Sam&McCarron& Team&manager:&Tascha&Edwards& & Players& & Tate Estes Buster McCarron Mitch Langworth Quin Estes William Scalzi

Orioles – a small but determined team.

The Orioles started the season players of varying age and ability. Mitch and Tate returned as eager as ever, hitting the ball out of the park on a number of occasions and inspiring the newer kids with their sharp skills in the field. Young Will showed off his fantastic batting and base running each week, while Buster always remained eager to get as many players out. Quinn had his eye on an assistant coaching role early in the season, as he supported his brother Tate from the side. A lack of numbers forced him into the line-up, brining the team home each week with his leadership and encouragement.

Fielding was always fantastic. All the players worked well together, talking it up and learning their positions. It didn’t matter where they were, 100% effort was given each week. Playing with only five meant plenty of running in the field. It also meant more opportunities to bat. All the players showed real improvement each and every week, working on their footwork, concentration and swinging. While early weeks saw plenty of balls heading to fielders, later in the season saw more accurate and consistent ball placement. Remembering which base to run to was soon mastered and remembering the batting order became second nature.

It was an absolute pleasure working with the team this season. I hope they had as much fun batting, fielding and running around as I did coaching them. I very big thank you to all the other players, coaches and parents who came each week to make it all possible.

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CLUB AWARDS 2014 - 2015

Life Members Perpetual Cup for Best Junior Club Person Jack Daniels

Nominations Gianni Caruso Jack Daniels Mitch Holding Michael Moore Best Junior Coach Val Langworthy

Nominations Mark Campbell Russell Ferguson Val Langworthy John Fairweather Trevor Hogben Pat O’Neill Best Senior Clubman David Holland

Nominations Lance Blackley Gavin Daniels Trevor Hogben Mark Campbell Karen Dunn David Holland Joanne Campbell John Ferguson Peter Leslie Ian Curnow Russell Ferguson

Special Recognition Award

Steve Campitelli – 5 years of Service to Winter and Summer as Webmaster

THANK YOU TO

JOHN FERGUSON Tireless in keeping our diamonds up to scratch and setting up on Friday Nights KATHY DANIELS Our wonderful Canteen Manager BRAD LARK Presentation Day MC

STEVE CAMPITELLI Brilliant Webmaster DAVE COPPENS Regular U12 Friday Night Umpire GAVIN DANIELS Regular U14 Friday Night & Sunday Umpire & Bar Help PAT O’NEILL Senior & Junior Trophies via A1 Plaques (Dave Stenhouse)

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Around the Traps…..

Walk Off Double Blake "The Score.. I don’t know, I'm just the scorer!"

Thanks for Everything Scoop!

Shave for a Cause Jo Campbell Trial Run

Time Out for Mitch Just part of the 50,000 plus crowd we get

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Around the Traps…..

The Deed…………………………The Chase………………………………..The evidence…………………………Gone!

Kath's Canteen Couple of Our Best Supporters

On The Fence On The Rails

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Around the Traps…..

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FULL CLUB WRAP

Team W L D Reg Season Semi Final Grand Final

Firsts 15 10 2 5th

Seconds 15 1 0 1st 7-5 W 3-0 W Premiers

Thirds 3 12 2 11th

Fourths 13 3 1 2nd 6-0 W 7-1 W Premiers

Fifths 6 9 1 5th

Korean RL 11 4 1 2nd 5-11 L

Korean TH 11 2 3 2nd 7-12 L

Masters 10 4 0 3rd 0-1 L

U18 State 10 2 0 2nd 14-3 W 6-3 W Premiers

U18 Metro 9 2 1 2nd 3-1 W 4-5 L R/UP

U16 State 1 12 0 11th

U14 State Blue 6 5 2 7th

U14 State White 4 7 1 8th

U14 Fri Night A 4 8 0 5th

U14 Fri Night B 9 2 0 1st 12-6 W 5-0 W Premiers

U14 Fri Night C 7 3 1 3rd 6-1 W 0-5 L R/UP

U12 State 9 1 1 1st 13-12 W 13-3 W Premiers

U12 Metro 8 3 0 4th 2-6 L

U12 Major Giants 10 3 0 2nd 1-2 L

U12 Major Braves 7 5 0 5th

U12 Major Yankees 9 2 2 1st 10-2 W 6-5 W Premiers U12 Minors Mets 5 6 3 5th 6-6 D 5th U12 Minors Blue Jays 2 10 2 8th 0-1 L 8th U12 Minors Pirates 7 5 2 4th 6-2 W 3rd U12 Minors Orioles 8 2 4 1st 3-3 D Equal 1st Totals 199 123 29

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