BASEBALL returned to Broadford as the Melbourne Winter Baseball League (MWBL) got underway with a bang for the Mitchell Majors.
After a tumultuous pre-season that saw the C-grade competition scrapped in the weeks leading up to Round 1, the Majors’ senior side were placed in A3-grade and came up against Heathmont on the diamond.
Lachlan Ruyter was at his best on the mound, pitching confidently throughout his innings to restrict Heathmont’s scoring opportunities.
Sharp work in the outfield by Stuart Partridge was compounded with Deacon Macphail’s speed and reliability at short stop to back up Ruyter’s good pitching, but it was with the bat where the Broadford-based side really came into their own.
The second innings yielded two runs thanks to a deep fly ball to left-centre from Macphail which brought in Reagan Webster followed by an error from the Penguins’ catcher that saw Macphail slide his way safely to home.
The scoring kept rolling throughout the afternoon, and although the game was all but over, the highlight came late when Ruyter stepped up to the plate and slogged a homer.
The game finished soon after with the scoreline showing a comprehensive 12-2 win for the Majors.
In the A4-grade matchup, the script was flipped with Heathmont winning by 12 runs while in E-grade the Majors went down to La Trobe University in a tight 12-14 loss.
The A3 and A4-grade teams will travel into the city to take on North Balwyn next weekend, while E-grade has another home game against Sunshine.