Our Sporting Life SA

⚾️BASEBALL (March 8, 2026)
TWO OUT OF THREE AIN’T TOO BAD

By Robert Laidlaw
TWO OUT OF THREE SEMI-FINAL SERIES went to three games, with Henley & Grange and Adelaide winning a deciding third clash against Port Adelaide and West Torrens, while Southern Districts beat East Torrens in straight sets.
With the top three teams all winning game one at home on Saturday, it was expected to be a routine clean sweep on Sunday in game two but it wasn’t to be.
PORT ADELAIDE SHOCKED HENLEY & GRANGE at West Lakes with a 4-2 victory in Sunday’s first game, while the Rams rebounded to take the decider 14-4.
Sunday’s opener was tight, with the score locked at 1-1 after seven innings, the Magpies scoring a run at the top of the second dig, when Brodie Arriola walked, stole second base and came home on Tommy Bird’s single. Henley responded in the bottom of the fourth after hits to Cam Tilly and Jordan Hodges to make it 1-1.
With the scores still tied at 1-1 going into the top of the eighth, Ryan Schrapel singled, went to second base on Matt Christensen’s bunt, and scored on a wild throw – 2-1 Port.
Then at the top of the ninth, an error and Campbell Hodgetts infield single set up RBI hits for Christensen and Nick Vasic, to make it 4-1.
But Henley refused to lay down and charged out of the blocks to start the bottom of the ninth with doubles from Jet Clohessy and Phil Acosta for one run, but the next three hitters were retired with no further damage, giving the Maggies a 4-2 win.
Sammy Steigert pitched eight innings for the win, conceding 10 hits for two strikeouts, while Jordy Grose took the loss, after 7.1 frames for four hits and seven K2s.
Game two was over virtually before it started, as Henley scored four runs in the first dig and five in the second to lead 9-0, and coasted the rest of the way.
Wilson Lee hit a two-run double in that first rally, while in the second dig, consecutive one-out hits to Jack Partington, Jose Paula, Lee, Tilly and topped by Liam Bull’s three-run dinger, made it 9-0.
Another pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth made it 11-0, on RBI hits to Bull and Hodges, while the Magpies finally managed to breakthrough with Dayton Mitchell’s two-run homer in fifth, and at the top of the seventh, Campbell Hodgetts hit a two-run single to bring Port to 11-4.
But the Rams finished the deal with three tallies in the bottom of the seventh to end the game on the 10-run mercy rule, on Paula’s two run single and Tilly’s sac fly.
Lee pitched 5.2 innings for the win, conceding seven hits for six strikeouts.
THERE WERE TWO SHUT-OUTS at Plympton on Sunday, with West Torrens winning the first game 3-0 and Adelaide sealing the series victory with a 7-0 win in the decider.
Game one on Sunday was a 0-0 ballgame through four innings, with the Eagles scoring twice at the top of the fifth frame, on James McFarlane’s two-run hit, after Nico Vanderlinden and Nick George collected singles.
Then at the top of the fifth West Torrens scored the final run of the game, after the brother combination of Vanderlindens collected hits – Nathan scoring the run, Nico batting him in.
Jarod Large threw five frames for the win, conceding four hits for six strikeouts, while reliever Masa Sawada finished the job, allowing just one hit for three K2s in four digs.
Angels starter Nick Veselinovic pitched five innings for six hits and nine strikeouts in taking the loss. Adelaide centrefielder Max Tracey took five catches, and would hold another four chances in the second game for nine on the day.
The decider started slowly with neither team scoring in the first two frames, but then Adelaide got untracked with three runs in the bottom of the third dig, on Stef Welch’s long home run, after Ben Ganley singled and Ty Forney was hit by a pitch.
Another run came home in the bottom of the fifth, after two-out hits to Tracey (double) and Forney, and the final three runs of the game came in the bottom of the seventh, on RBI hits to Tracey and Ian Heck, and Welch’s sac fly.
Ian Heck threw a ‘heck’ of a game, conceding three hits for eight strikeouts over 7.2 innings.
ALTHOUGH SOUTHERN DISTRICTS WRAPPED UP the series in straight sets against East Torrens at Christie Beach, it wasn’t as easy as the 6-2 scoreline would indicate in Sunday’s clash.
Going into the bottom of the fifth inning the game was still scoreless, with a two-out, two-run single by Riley Moore breaking the duck. Two hit batters set the spree up, as the brothers Hutchings wore one each for the team, with Nick and Matt not looking any worse for wear.
In the bottom of the seventh Matt Hutchings led off the frame for the Hawks and smashed the first pitch he faced over the fence to make it a 3-0 ballgame.
Then in the bottom of the eighth, hits by Jake Campbell, Byron Turner, Andrew Rodgers and Brett Hattersley set up a three-run rally, as South looked almost home at 6-0.
But the Redsox still had some petrol in the tank, especially after Carter Powell and Charlie Ashcroft were hit by pitches, followed by Harry Delitannis’ RBI groundout, Braeden Ashworth’s single and an error, but only two runs were scored.
John Inglis pitched a two-hitter over five innings for six strikeouts to claim the win, while reliever Jacob Morin tossed four frames for two hits and three K2s.
For East Torrens, starter Connor Yeatman threw 5.1 digs for three hits and four strikeouts.
Matt Hutchings also took five catches in centrefield for South.
* * * * *
Division one baseball results.
SEMI-FINALS GAME TWO
Southern Districts d East Torrens 6-2 (hits: South – Hattersley 2, M. Hutchings (hr), Moore, Short, Campbell, Turner, Rodgers; ET – Lucas, Stroud, Sanderson, Probert. WP: J. Inglis; LP: C. Yeatman).
Port Adelaide d Henley & Grange 4-2 (hits: Port – Arriola 2, Vasic, Bird, Hodgetts, R. Schrapel, Christensen; H&G – Partington 2, Clohessy 2, Lee, Tilly, Bull, Yonezawa, Hodges, Acosta. WP: S. Steigert; LP: J. Grose).
West Torrens d Adelaide 3-0 (hits: WT – S. McGarry 3, George 2, Nat. Vanderlinden 2, Nic. Vanderlinden 2, McFarlane, Clavell; Adelaide – Tracey 2, Welch, Edwards, Ganley. WP: J. Large; LP: N. Veselinovic).
SEMI-FINALS GAME THREE
Henley & Grange d Port Adelaide 14-4 (hits: H&G – Paula 4, Lee 3, Bull 3 (hr), Hodges 2, Partington, Tilly, Acosta; Port – Steigert 2, Arriola 2, Bird 2, Stead, Mitchell (hr), Hodgetts. WP: W. Lee; LP: K. Taufui).
Adelaide d West Torrens 7-0 (hits: Adelaide – Tracey 2, Forney, Welch (hr), Heck, Yeatman, Martinez, Cann, Ganley; WT – McFarlane 2, George, Nat. Vanderlinden, Clark. WP: I. Heck; LP: M. Clavell).

🥎SOFTBALL
EVEN STEVENS SOFTBALL ROUND

By Robert Laidlaw
WITH SATURDAY’S GAMES WASHED OUT, the Premier League Softball round was played Tuesday night at West Beach parks and resulted in all three games finishing in draws, with nothing between any of the competing teams.
IN A GAME DOMINATED by pitching, neither Walkerville or Seacombe could score a run over seven innings.
The best chance for either side to score was in the Tigers’ fourth frame, where they collected their only two hits of the game, by Abbie Mossman and Becky Havis but could not convert.
From the circle the Cats’ Lizzy Avery struck out 15 batters for those two hits in seven digs, while for Seacombe, Aroha Munroe and Regan Dias combined to shut Walkerville out.
ANOTHER CLIFF-HANGER SAW Hills and Port Adelaide share the points with a 2-2 draw.
The Heat scored both their runs at the top of the third frame, when Zoe Marrich and Georgia King hit singles, Sarah Harvey walked to load the bases, Mikayla Jankovic hit for one run and Lara Tamke picked a walk for the second score.
Port pulled one run back in the bottom of the third dig, when Chloe Davis singled, advanced on an error and came home on Lacie Ham’s grounder.
Then in the bottom of the fifth and final inning, after walks to Jess Neves, Montana Edwards and Jess Maslin set up a run, which came home on an error, to make it 2-2.
While Hills out-hit the Magpies six to three, two of Port’s hits were extra bases but the batters were stranded. Maslin hit a lead-off triple in second frame, while Brodie Borovnik connected for a one-out double in the fourth.
Amber Dodd-Mobius pitched five innings for the Magpies, conceding six hits for a pair of K2s, while for Hills, Mikayla Jankovic gave up three hits for five K2s in four frames, and Sarah Harvey collected three K2s and three walks in the final dig.
IT WAS A CASE OF scoring early and hanging on in the Sturt versus West Torrens clash, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
The Falcons got both their runs at the top of the opening inning, when Sarah Tonkin tripled, Bel White hit a RBI double and an error.
Then in the bottom of the second frame, the Eagles scored twice, after Steph Trzcinski singled and Charlotte Whinnett hit a home run.
West Torrens threatened to steal the points in the bottom of the sixth and final inning, when Alicia Martschink and Sienna Sutton collected one-out hits but the Eagles failed to break through for the winning run.
Trzcinski pitched the complete game for West Torrens, conceding five hits for 11 strikeouts in six frames, while Jessica Stewart and Olivia Durham shared duties from the circle for the Falcons.
* * * * *
RESULTS:
Seacombe tied Walkerville 0-0 (hits: Seacombe – Mossman, Havis; Walkerville – Robinson, Larson, Gall, Reed).
Hills tied Port Adelaide 2-2 (hits: Hills – Marrich 2, Jemson, Bergesen, King, Jankovic; Port – Davis, Maslin, Borovnik).
Sturt tied West Torrens 2-2 (hits: Sturt – White 2, Cameron 2, S. Tonkin; WT – S. Sutton 2, Harris, Trzcinski, Whinnett (hr), Allen, Martschink).
Premiership points: West Torrens 27, Hills 26 Walkerville 25, Seacombe 20, Port Adelaide 17, Sturt 15.