A heavy shower during warm-up and persistant dark clouds threatned to wash away the game which in the context of the season was a must win game in order to keep pace with the ladder leaders Forest Hill and the unbeaten Westgarth. With Supercoach Timmy missing his first game since he took over as head coach many years ago, it was up to Randall to lead the young team.
With Yoshi away also, it was up to Carlos who started on the mound and with a shaky start to North Balwyn in the firld, Waverley opened the scoring in the first to lead 2-0.
Things started well offensively with a triple from the first at bat of the game and Lenny was there to drive in the run to trim the defecit to 1. Again in the 3rd, an error and a steal and a pass ball allowed Lenny to drive in another run to tie up the game.
Another unearned run in the 4th saw Waverley again take the lead but excellent defence saw hits taken away to leave Waverley runners on base a couple of times, unable to score.
North Balwyn had the chance to hit to win the game but time and again, weren't able to put away the experienced Waverley pitcher. Some shocking decision making from a number of players across the last couple of innings almost lost the game but as it turned out, an errant throw from the Waverley catcher on a steal from 2nd to 3rd sailed into the outfield allowing John Anderson to cross the plate for the winning run in the bottom of the eighth, much to the delight of the big crown on hand on such an important day for the club.
Carlos was outstanding on the mound going the distance with 8 innings pitched, 5 hits, 5 ks, 3 runs, 0 earned runs.
Other hits on the day included Chao 2 and James 1
Big thanks to all that turned out to watch the 1sts and 2nds. It was fantastic to see such support.
