The Camden Haven Local Lawyers softball team travelled to the Rowena Meers Softball Diamond in Port Macquarie to take on the powerful Port Phoenix team on Saturday 17th November.
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The Local Lawyers won the toss and decided to bat.
This proved to be a good decision as Jordan Grieve and Fiona Ewan scored when Shanene Matthews smashed the Phoenix pitcher Bea Elford to centre field. Matthews then crossed home plate when Nat Middleton scored a safe hit.
The experienced Elford then showed great composure to strike out the remaining two batters.
The Lawyers took the field brimming with confidence with a 3 nil lead.
This confidence did not show up in their fielding effort. The Lawyers, unfortunately, made 4 fielding errors, this combined with a home run by Phoenix substitute batter Catherine Carrol allowed the Phoenix to finish the first innings with a 7/3 lead.
This proved to be the last run the Lawyers were able to score, even though Charlie Grieve, Nat Middleton and Chrissie Andrews all recorded safe hits.
Rather than throw in the towel the Lawyers responded with their best defensive effort this season.
The defence was led by pitcher Chrissie Andrews who has worked hard to change her style from a slingshot pitcher to a windmill pitcher.
Andrews has increased her speed with only a slight drop in accuracy. With many games before the semi-finals the future of the Lawyers pitching looks much brighter.
The infield responded well with two double plays from second basewoman Mel Hunt. The first involved Hunt taking a line drive on the full, followed by a quick thinking throw to first base for the second out.
Her other double play was a classic double involving shortstop Shanene Matthews.
The Lawyers young outfield of Lily Andrews, Sarah Jennings and Charlie Grieve chased down 12 hits to the outfield thus saving many runs. Jordan Grieve who was having her first full game at 3 base showed why she was selected in the north Coast CHS team.
Her combination with fellow CHS representative catcher Nat Middleton stopped the Phoenix team from stealing third base.
The final score of 18/3 was not a true indication of the closeness of the game with the local lawyers well in the game up until the second last innings.
The opposition team was impressed by the Lawyers improvement and the Lawyers know that their training is paying dividends.
With a slight improvement in the batting, the team will be very competitive by the end of the season.
