27 May 2024
Junior League Nationals Day 1 Recap, Stats & Info | Some insane pitching displays highlights Day 1
recaps by Eric Balnar, photos by Dan Cohen
A trip to the Junior League World Series in the USA is on the line in addition to the title of ‘National Champion’, as the 2024 Australian Junior League Championships launched this morning in Lismore.
Nine teams from across the country are divided into two groups. Over the first three days of the tournament, each team will play each other once in the group, with the top 2 advancing to Thursday’s semi finals.
Here you will find scores, results, recaps and standings. Scroll down to bottom for the recaps and stat leaders after Day 1 is completed.
You can join CJ Barnes or all Diamond 1 Broadcasts through Baseball+ at www.baseball.com.au/baseballplus.
We will be logging all results and information at the Junior League Hub.
For Intermediate League results, also running at same time in Lismore, click here.
LIVE SCORING & GAME CHANGER: Click Here.
Day 1 Results & Standings
Top 2 teams in each group at end of round robin advance to Thursday’s semi-finals.
RECAPS
Brisbane North 22 def Manly Maroon 4
Tirrell Waiwai drove in five runs as Brisbane North as last year’s Intermediate League Champions piled on 22 runs off 10 hits in their opening day win.
Mason Clem and Archie Baert each recorded two hits and Tom White led the team with three. Alonzo Griffin was great in his start on the mound, tallying four strikeouts and allowing no hits and just one run in his 2.1 innings of work.
The game blew open when Waiwai cleared the bases on a 3-RBI double in the third to pull them away.
Brisbane’s biggest inning came in the sixth, when they tacked on 11 runs to extend what was an 11-2 game.
Adelaide Marlins 12 def Melbourne Athletics 3
Kyan Taifui struck out five batters in his 2.0 inning start, and the Marlins held the Athletics scoreless to pick up their first win over the tournament.
Harlan King and Jack Wilton both had booming RBI doubles. Tyson Soraghan had a two-RBI single in the third to push the score to 7-0.
Adelaide scored three in the second and four in the third inning, while shutting out the Athletics for all seven innings.
The Athletics pushed back before Adelaide tagged another five runs late in an impressive full squad display.
Cronulla Black 10 def Southern Hills 0
Will Bonham gave an epic performance in Cronulla’s shutout win. The young starter struck out all eleven batters he faced.
His final stat line is as perfect as it can be: 3.2 innings, 11 strikeouts, no walks, no hits, no runs.
While he was pitching, the Cronulla offence was capitalising. Eight different players had hits, and nobody had more than one, in a total team approach.
Jacob Gallardo and Archie Sampson each had two RBI.
Patrick Williams pitched the final 2.1 innings for Cronulla, allowing two hits and no runs. He also ended the game when he pushed the margin to ten runs in the fifth inning with an RBI to the right fielder.
Cronulla pulled away with six runs in the fifth inning to seal the run-rule victory.
Adelaide Marlins 3 def Manly Maroon 0
What a day for the Marlins, who win both games in their double-header without conceding a run.
They scored early. Patrick Mews had an RBI single, and the rest of the team capitalised off a Manly error.
Owen Hughes opened the game for the Marlins, allowing just two hits over four innings and walking just one. Will Wildman, Patrick Mews and Liam Trembath closed the game out without walking a single batter or conceding a hit.
Five different Marlins had hits. Adelaide scored their third run in the fourth inning to extend their lead.
Adelaide sits at 2-0 at the end of Day 1, with Manly at 0-2.
Brisbane North 10 def Central Firebirds 0
Brisbane North look good. Really good. It’s no wonder this group of players are coming off a 2022 Little League title and 2023 Junior League championship.
Brisbane allowed just one hit in the five-inning shutout performance. Their pitchers? Impressive.
Lachlan Richards started the game and gave up just one hit and no runs in his 3.1 innings pitched. Thomas White followed on with 1.1 innings of no-hit, no-walk, no-run ball, while striking out four. Archer Peterson recorded the final out.
Brisbane’s bats worked well as a unit, too. Seven players combined for eight hits, led by Archer Peterson who had two. Alonzo Griffin had two-RBI. Mason Clem, Peterson, White, Logan Lokeni and Kauri Hunter each had one RBI apiece.
Brisbane’s biggest inning came in the third, when they compounded their 2-0 lead by scoring five. The first eight batters in the third all reached by some way, shape or form.
Archer Peterson capped off a three-run fifth with an RBI single to centrefield to move the game into run-rule territory.
Melbourne Rangers 10 def Adelaide Rays 5
The Rays scored first, but the Rangers scored a lot more, in a big Melbourne win where eleven different players reached base.
Spencer Tyers and Blake Pickard tallied RBI hits in the second inning to put Melbourne up 2-1 and give the Rangers the lead for good.
Sam Stafilis extended the lead to 5-2 in the three-run third with a 2-RBI single. The Rangers padded their lead with three more in the fourth before adding two insurance runs in the seventh.
The Rays scored three in the bottom of the last in a mini comeback.
Tyers and Stafilis each had two hits. The Rangers combined for nine hits as a team, and drew 10 walks.
Jonathan Park, Ryder Ochoa and Cliff Nielson only allowed one hit combined in the first six innings.
Ben Smith, Alice Brown, Frankie O’Reilly, and Chace Wallis had RBIs for Adelaide.
Southern Hills Warriors 11 vs Adelaide Rays 4
It was close until Sam Simmons stepped up to the plate.
The Adelaide Rays had just scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut a three run deficit to just one.
Simmons came to the plate with two runners on in a 5-4 ballgame and blasted a two-RBI triple to put the Warriors up 7-4. They scored five in the inning to pull away late.
Simmons starred for the Warriors, going 3-for-4 with two RBI. Aden Lynn also had two hits while leading the team with 4RBI.
Both teams scored twice in the first inning before the Warriors pulled ahead. But the Rays kept clawing back.
Jordan Turvey and Will Stock both had two hits in the loss.
The Warriors were tough from 1-to-12 in the lineup. All players reached at least once.
The Warriors keep their hopes of advancing the semi-finals with a win.
Cronulla Black 18 def Melbourne Rangers 0
Cronulla scored ten runs in the top of the first and added eight more in the third during their runaway victory.
A double to Ben Croser, a single to Patrick Williams, and a hit to Jesse Garnero all helped Cronulla’s cause in the busy inning.
They tallied another six hits in the top of the third, plating eight runs.
All twelve Cronulla players reached base during the game. Garnero, Williams, Archie Sampson and Lachlan McGuckin all had two-hit performance.
Starting pitcher Jake Shorey had a bases clearing triple on his 3RBI day. He also struck out seven in 2.2 innings on the mound.
Tyce Hill also had a big strikeout day on the mound, sitting down three in 1.1 innings.
