After the Bye, we took on Deakin at home for the last regular season game.

B Grade got off to a slow start, with Deakin getting an early 2 run lead in the first thanks to a leadoff home run to right and errors getting the 2nd into scoring position.   After a strong rev from the Coach, the Braves pulled their collective heads out of their butts and managed a 6-5 win to keep a slim hope of a top 2 spot alive.   Alas the Mounties could only manage a draw against Saints, leaving the Braves in third spot and a knock out final against Corio on Sunday next.

B Reserve continued the strong march to the finals with a confident 22-0 drubbing of Deakin.   All batters making good contact, heads up base running and consistent fielding with plenty of team spirit, even with Donk making an appearnce in the 2's before the surgeon gets a hold of his back.   The 2's secured their 2nd spot finish and a semi against Corio on Saturday for the first berth in the Grand Final.

Spotty has the team running like a well oiled  machine, confident in their own ability and the ability of their team mates.   A credit to his coaching style that the team is a happy, friendly bunch, enjoying their baseball at the start, middle and end of some careers in the game.

All aboard the bus, not, car trip for the final away game to Prince of Wales Park in sunny Ballarat.

The B reserve line up saw a couple of changes due to injury and other commitments.   Dave Ryan or Derrick as he will be for ever known (as we have a Dave and a Rhino already) stepped up to play after his Deal or No Deal win and showed some skills.   His viewing of the Majors in persona nd on the box combined with a  bit of natural talent  went a long way to impressing the committee for 2010.   We also saw the return of Abe and a new look Muzz with the salt an' pepper rinsed away for a sultry brunette look.   If only we could take a few decades of the rest of his body......

A solid 5-0 win for the 2's making it a 5 game winning streak, including a win against the ladder leader, and 88 runs for, 15 against.

B Grade got off to a rocky start with Mooka being hit on the elbow on the 1st pitch of the game, taking him out for the day.   The Braves did not seem to recover from that, unable to get on to the new pitcher getting good corners, and Reidy having to throw belt high strikes all day, allowing the Mounties to get a 10-3 W at their home Diamond.

Werribee made the long trip down the Highway for the 1st game in August. 

With Coach Morrissy out for the 1's with work, the line up still looked strong but the Giants held the Braves to 11 runs in 7 digs before the mercy rule activated, 7 - 0 Braves.   The 2's continued their strong batting of recent weeks with a resounding 26 - 2 beating of the Giants, who were without their gun pitcher, relegated to SS with injury.   With finals looming it was good to get 2 wins and the continuation of good form from the 2's keeps the club in good stead, especially with injury in the 1's leaching players from the 2's.

Guild paid a visit to the Eastern Reserve.   A different looking outfit in both grades withplayers in higher grades comitted to other activities and injury.   B Grade eventually put the visitors to the sword 22 - 4 after a somewhat slow start, following on from the 2's 18 - 5 outing.   Hits all around in both games and good pitching from the starters

The Braves traveled to Deakin Uni to take on the Blues on a wintry day.

B Grade saw Bry Hillman step on to the field for game 250, a fine achievement for the veteran 3rd baseman.   Bry was amongst the runs as were nearly all the Braves, with good hitting and fielding across the board, although the 1 spot at the top of the order was a bit of a curse through the game for red haired batters.   The Braves were able to comfortably secure the points in a 17-4 mercy rule finish.  Reidy was back to his best on the hill with Monkey closing out he game with a trip to the mound with the big boys.  Justin again showed pace on the base paths, beating out a few close ones at first.

B Reserve set the tone for the day  with hits spread across the whole 9.   Brendan back in the 2's due to other commitments after the game pitched very well and had a day with the bat with a Grand Slam and a three run dinger being the highlights of the day, followed closely by Tim Kelly's climb from Goldan Bat territory to Glory with a three run fence clearer of his own.   Ricey came in to pitch the last couple and even had the Blue baffled a little with a previously unseen curve ball that he pulled from somewhere.   All that practice at the back end of the cows seemed to pay off.   Leeroy was robbed of a potential line drive double down the left field line by a blinder of a catch by the otherwise unlucky Deakin 3rd Baseman                                                  29-3 the end result.

Bring on Guild now for the last month before playoff time.

Round 11 was the second match against Corio for the year  and playing at home the braves felt confident

B Grade had the braves behind at the start by 3 runs and with the rain coming in it didn't look good but then the return or Micheal Reid came and the braves head all lifted and they all started hitting the ball. With Tim D and Reidy looking unbeatable the braves started to get on top of th Corio teams.  Coming into the last innings the braves were ahead by one but Corio hit back with 3 runs to take the lead by 2, and as this Game Being Mooka 250th game all the boys lifted and with 3 great hits by Reidy Nat and Brendon in a row the braves took the win 8-7 and concreted themselves in the top 3.

B Reserves saw the unbeaten Corio taking on our boys and with a great speak from coach Spotty Warton before the game the boys were on. Corio came out hitting like they always do scoring 3 runs to Colac 0 in the first 2 innings.  Then something happenend the boys with Corio not scoring the next 3 innings.  Everybody started hitting down the order, and after 4 innings the score was 8-3.  Coming into the last innings for the Braves, Corio were still confident on a win but with a hit to Dave, Nomad, Spotty and Leeroy, the game was over and Colac won 10-5. Colac celebrated the win singing the song (apart from Ricey who didnt no the words)  with a lot of heart, just  to tell Corio they will have to beat us to take the flag.

Round 10 was a third regular season match up aginst the East Belmont Saints.

B Grade had the Braves out to an early 9 run lead and a second pitcher for the hosts..   A middle inning lapse by the Braves led to an 11 run inning from the Saints, a lead that would not be recovered.   Big hitting was the order of the day for both sides with many balls finding their way to the warning track including an in the park home run from Brendan DeLorenzo.   Stephen MAI continued on the mound with the Michael Reid elbow injury still troubling with Kyne Watts backing him up in the later digs.   With Mark Billing out for the year with back injury, 2's catcher Tim Dickson will be stepping up to the 2 slot for the remainder of this season.   Bry Hillman out with a rib injury from the Mounties clash left another gap to be filled.   Justin Morrissy continued to shine with the bat and in the left outfield, also showing he has pace on the bases, easily outrunning a double play and also  "materialising" at second to turn what most thought was a single into a double later in the game.   Brendan D and Brent Hay also had plenty of work at centre and right fields.

The final score of 20 24 Saints way.

B Reserve saw Murray Hillman return to catching duties with Tim D going up.   A good job for the veteran behind the dish with Josh Hay pitching out the full game in a close encounter.   With Tim D up and other players unavailable, the less than full strength Braves toiled strongly through the game, but poor batting, particularly from a couple of Golden bat winners on the day, the bat ending with the President, led to a     6 - 7scoreline with a bleeder to right bringing in the winning run for the home team.   Mat Warton hit the cover off the ball again and Mark Rice hit well and continued to hold down the short stop position with a slick bases loaded out at home to quash a big rally and keep the Braves in the game.

Both teams need to regroup for the Corio meeting at home next week to keep in the top 4.

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Our second "home" game for 2009 saw Mounties travel down from sunny Ballarat.

It was also the 150th game for Stephen MAI.

Colac started well against the undefeated Mounties but a middle innings lapse let the visitors skip away to a 9-6 lead, which the Braves could not claw back.

Pitching stocks were stretched and walks and errors made the difference.

Justin Morrissy proved the faith the selectors held for him.   Nathanial Bannon continued to hit well.   Many Colac hits were strong into the outfield but Mounties outfielders snagged most of them to record outs.   With another week off for the bye, Colac will rest aching arms and legs from the mound and regroup to take on Saints at PP2.

B Reserve did not start well, letting Mounties dominate proceedings early, errors in the field again proving a difference.   After an hour and a half of less than impressive baseball from the home team, Colac managed to put a few runs on the board to hold the loss to 5 9.   Monkey toiled well on the hill for the day and Tim D put his body on the line both catching and base running.   With Tim Kelly to come back from an ankle injury at Werribee, and Muzz Hillman available, the twos will look forward to a return to PP2 and get a win on the board to start off the second half of the season.