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Recaps by Eric Balnar, photos by Field of View Photography

Two words: Finals Baseball, baby.

Okay, that’s three but you get the point. Today was semi-final day at the 2024 Australian Senior League Championships.

Cronulla Blue, Eastern Phantoms, Wanneroo Giants and Cronulla Black emerged from the group portion of the tournament and were fighting for a spot in the Gold Medal Game. Win the Gold Medal Game? You represent Australia at the Senior League World Series in the USA.

Welcome to the Day 3 update story. Here you will find scores, game recaps, highlights stat leaders and information you may just care about.

To catch up on the tournament and get all the necessities, don’t forget to visit the Tournament Hub. You’ll find final standings, tournament leaders and links to past recaps there.

You can join Phil Herden for the two semi-final broadcasts. through Baseball+ at www.baseball.com.au/baseballplus.

LIVE SCORING & GAME CHANGER: Click Here.

TODAY’S RESULTS

Consolation Game 1 (C1) – Melbourne Athletics 9 def Gold Coast Cougars 5
5th Place Game – Canberra Rangers 13 def NT Buffaloes 3

12:15PM – Consolation Game 2 (C2) – Adelaide Armada 6 def Melbourne Rangers 5

12:15PM – Semi Final 1 (SF1) – Wanneroo Giants 9 def Cronulla Blue 5
3:00PM – Semi Final 2 (SF2) – Eastern Phantoms 9 def Cronulla Black 3

RECAPS – SEMI FINALS

Wanneroo Giants 9 def Cronulla Blue 5

The Wanneroo Giants scored five runs in the first inning and held on for a semi-final victory to advance to the Gold Medal game.

For seven members of this group, it’s their third straight national charter national championship game. The Wanneroo Giants won the 2023 Junior League (U15) Championship and the 2022 Intermediate League (U14) Title, earning trips to America on both occasions.

Now, they look for a Triple Crown.

Judd MacNeil provided the biggest thud in the five-run first with a 2-RBI single. The rest of the runs were scored on walks.

Dylan Bandy kept Cronulla in check most of the afternoon, tossing 5.0 innings in his start, allowing six hits, three runs and striking out five. He also benefited from some nice defensive efforts in the field.

Every time Cronulla scored, Wanneroo seemed to have an answer. Cronulla scored one in the top of third, only for Chayce Benseman to double in a run in a two-score inning for the Giants.

Cronulla scored again in the fourth, but Ben Hannan’s 2-RBI double pushed the lead to 9-2. Cronulla would score two late runs in the last.

Eight different Giants had hits in a full-team effort. Benseman was the only player with two hits. Six different players and RBIs.

Mitchell Elliot didn’t allow an earned run in his 2.0 innings of relief, closing the door on the win.

Lucas Gallardo had two hits to lead the stat sheet for Cronulla, who advance to tomorrow’s 12:15pm Bronze Medal Game.

The Giants will look to complete the three-peat tomorrow at 3:00PM on Baseball+.

Eastern Phantoms 9 def Cronulla Black 3

Don’t let the scoreline deceive you – this game was tight. But, the Eastern Phantoms pulled ahead in the fifth and slammed it home in the sixth during an epic arm-wrestle to set up an all Western Australia showdown at the Senior League Championship.

It was a low scoring affair until the fourth, when Cronulla’s Lewis Gardner sent a booming 2-RBI double to the wall to put Cronulla Black up 2-1.

The Phantoms tied it in the fourth and broke the deadlock in the fifth.

Heads up base-running from Ben Nesbit on what could have been an inning ending double play moved the Phantoms in front. The very next batter, Ryan Warner cashed in an insurance run to make it 4-2.

Things really escalated in the fifth. After one run scored on a bases loaded walk, Thomas Williams put the game beyond doubt with a huge grand slam to push the scoreline to 9-2.

Williams went 2-for-4 with a homer, walk, and four runs batted in. Ben Nesbit was superb at the top of the order, finishing with a 3-for-4 stat line. Four other Phantoms had hits.

Brady Manning struck out five and allowed just one earned run in his 3.2 innings of work. Adam Taylor finished the job, pitching the final 3.1 innings, allowing two hits and one unearned run.

A potent Cronulla line-up, which led the tournament in scoring, managed just three five off the two pitchers.

They didn’t go down without a fight. Cronulla loaded the bases in the seventh but couldn’t bring any home.

Eastern Phantoms will progress to Friday’s Gold Medal Game vs a foe from their state – the Wanneroo Giants. These teams met in the WA State League titles last month. First pitch is at 3:00PM.

Cronulla Black will play Cronulla Blue at 12:15PM.

RECAPS – CONSOLATION GAMES

Adelaide Armada 6 def Melbourne Rangers 5

Offense early, pitching late.

Lucas Doyle and Alex Gray drove in three runs combined in the bottom of the second inning to break an early 3-3 tie and put the Armada up 6-3. Little did we know, that’s all they would score.

The Rangers pegged one back in the third and Sam Walk’s fourth-inning RBI-double brought the Rangers within one run of Adelaide, but then the scoring ran dry.

Luke Kennedy showed his nerves of steal in the last few innings on the mound for the Armada, holding off a valiant Rangers comeback attempt. He pitched 4.0 innings in relief giving up just two earned runs.

Seven different members of the Armada had hits in a balanced attack.

Sam Walk led the charge for the Rangers, going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Ollie Hill picked up his tenth RBI of the tournament. Daniel Williams also had two hits.

Adelaide advances to play the Melbourne Athletics tomorrow.

Melbourne Athletics 9 def Gold Coast 5

The Athletics used a five run third inning to erase an early three-run deficit to pick up their second win of the tournament and advance to the fifth place game.

Declan Marshall send line drive double to left field which cashed in a pair of runs in the third to put Melbourne up 6-5 and they never looked back.

Lachlan Brennan, Angus Saggers and Patrick Watson all had two hit performances. Saggers pitched all 5.0 innings for Melbourne, giving up just two earned runs.

Andre Chang had two of the three Gold Coast hits. His two-RBI double helped give Gold Coast their first lead of the game in a three-run first. They added two more in the second to lead 5-2, before Gold Coast scored seven unanswered.

Gold Coast will play Canberra Rangers tomorrow to finish the tournament, while the Athletics will play either the Adelaide Armada or Melbourne Rangers.

Canberra Rangers 13 def NT Buffaloes 3

Canberra used a five-run second and six-run third inning to power to their first win of the tournament. Liam Shyer and Riley Watson had two hits apiece to lead the Ranger attack.

Eli Tanouye had two RBI in the victory to lead the Rangers. Aiden Bates tossed 3.0 innings of scoreless work in his start.

Andrea McVeigh had a two-RBI single in the fifth to score a pair for NT Buffaloes, who put up their biggest total of the tournament.

FRIDAY SCHEDULE

recaps by Eric Balnar, photos by Field of View Photography

It’s Day 3, the final day of the group stage of the 2024 Australian Senior League Championships.

A trip to the Senior League World Series in the USA is on the line for the tournament winner. Today, we discovered which four teams advance to the semi-finals and remain in gold medal contention.

Congratulations to the Eastern Phantoms, Wanneroo Giants, Cronulla Blue & Cronulla Black on advancing to the semi-finals.

recaps by Eric Balnar, photos by Field of View Photography

Welcome to the Day 2 Recap of the 2024 Australian Senior League Championships. A trip to the Senior League World Series in the USA is on the line.

Only one day of pool play remains after today. The top two teams will advance to the semi-finals on Thursday. No team has clinched.

recaps by Eric Balnar, photos by Field of View Photography

A trip to the Senior League World Series in the USA is on the line in addition to the title of ‘National Champion’, as the 2024 Australian Senior League Championships launched on Monday morning.

Ten teams from across the country are divided into two groups of five. 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.

You can join Phil Herden for all Diamond 1 Broadcasts through Baseball+ at www.baseball.com.au/baseballplus.

We will be logging all results and information at the Senior League Hub.

LIVE SCORING & GAME CHANGER: Click Here.

Daily Results

Cronulla Blue 4 def Canberra Rangers 1
Adelaide Athletics 17 def Melbourne Athletics 6

Gold Coast 15 def Canberra Rangers 0
Wanneroo Giants 23 def NT Buffaloes 0

Cronulla Black 45 def NT Buffaloes 2
Eastern Phantoms 20 def Melbourne Rangers 5

Current Standings – End of Day 1

Top 2 teams advance to Thursday’s semi-finals.

RECAPS

Cronulla Blue 4 def Canberra Rangers 1

Cronulla Blue scored all four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to pick up their first win.

Cameron Crowles, Joseph Hutt and Jacob Hazan strung together three straight hits which scored the four runs in the decisive inning.

It spoiled what was a fantastic pitching performance by Canberra’s Nathan Adams to that point who had pitched 3.1 scoreless. Jack Blundell worked 2.2 scoreless for the Rangers.

Blundell also had two hits in the loss. Cayden Herbert led the Cronulla pace with two hits to his name.

Adelaide Armada 17 def Melbourne Athletics 6

It was the Luke Kennedy experience in a big win for the Armada. Kennedy did it on the mound and at the plate.

With the bat, he went 3-for-4 with two runs batted in. On the bump, Kennedy tossed 3.0 innings allowing one hit and zero earned runs.

All ten players who entered the game contributed. Nine players scored runs, nine players had RBIs, and every player reached base. Lucas Doyle and Alex Gellert scored three times. Diesel Fallon, who has an elite baseball name, led the balanced attack with 3RBI.

Trailing 10-3 entering the fourth, Melbourne made it interesting by pegging four in the top of the inning before Adelaide pulled away.

Zach Locklier had four RBI for the Athletics.

Gold Coast 15 def Canberra Rangers 0

Andre Chang drove in four runs off his three hits in an impressive Gold Coast batting display. Asher Kwok also had three hits.

Joining Chang and Kwok with multi-hit games were Cooper Reed, Toby Muller and Cody Harrison who each had two base knocks.

Kota Murayama had three RBI, too, as every player in the Gold Coast line-up reached base. Lawson Muller allowed one hit with four strikeouts in 2.2 innings on the mound.

Wanneroo Giants 23 def NT Buffaloes 0

A 20-run third inning was the story in the Giants’ big win on Monday afternoon.

The Giants’ tallied seven hits and 18 walks in the win, while eleven different players scored runs.

Chayce Benseman had two hits and 3RBI to lead the Wanneroo offence. Dylan Bandy and Rafael DiBlasi combined for a 4.0 inning no-hitter while striking out nine.

Cronulla Black 45 def NT Buffaloes 2

It was a big day for the Cronulla bats.

Three players went deep for Cronulla – reigning U16 National Championship MVP Tahlan Cavill, Gabriel Tentomas, and Lewis Gardner.

We’ll leave you to explore the Box Score on GameChanger, but there were some standouts.

Colm Sheehan had four hits and seven RBI. Tentomas had four hits, six RBI and a homer. Ryan Nicholas, Liam Cavanough and Gardner each had three hits.

In total, Cronulla amassed 20 hits.

Blake Kimber and Charlie Casey had the RBIs for Northern Territory, who are entering a squad with only NT players for the first time in tournament history.

Eastern Phantoms 20 def Melbourne Rangers 5

A powerful top of the Phantoms line-up helped drive the Phantoms passed the Rangers.

Ben Nesbit (3 hits), Eita Samukawa (2 hits) and George Calverley (3 hits) combined to go 8-for-12 with six RBI, two walks and eight runs. Ryan Warner also had three hits from the nine-hole.

Calverley hit a homer.

In total, the Phantoms tallied sixteen hits and every player in the starting nine reached base and scored.

Adam Taylor opened the game well on the mound for the Phantoms, tossing 2.0 innings and struck out four.

Zak Stafilis had a two-hit afternoon for the Rangers and Sam Walk had three RBI.

by Eric Balnar

NOTE: FOR FINAL DAY RECAP + STATS + END OF DAY LEADERS, CLICK HERE.

This is the 2024 Senior League Hub. All schedule, information, links to recaps, and results will be posted here. Just keep scrolling.

The bottom of the article features how each team qualified.

A spot in the Senior League World Series in the United States and the title of National Champion is on the line for ten teams.  The 2024 Australian Senior League Championships (U17) are here.

From May 13-17 in Geelong, ten qualified charter teams will fight for a crown and that ticket to the World Series in July in Easley, South Carolina.

Congratulations to the Eastern Phantoms – our champion!

photos by Erin Honsa, recap by Eric Balnar

Ding dong! We have the world’s first home run in a national little league girls championship!
The honour belongs to the Belles’ Audrey Cheung! You can read about it in the recaps below.

Before we rip in to the daily summary, I’d love to point out some excellent news coverage we’ve got. Like this story from ABC News which is getting national traction.

Another quick note – because of weather and field conditions, we’ve moved tomorrow’s Gold Medal Game between the Victoria Belles and NSW Blue to 9:00AM. You can watch it on Baseball+.

The updated schedule is at the 2024 Little League Girls Hub. 

Scroll down for recaps.

RECAPS

Victoria Belles 13 def NSW White 8

The Belles and NSW White exchanged runs all day, but the big highlight was watching the first Little League Girls’ national championship home run.

The Belles were trailing 6-2 in the top of the third, but a two-run homer from Audrey Cheung helped flip the game on its head. The two run shot was part of a six run inning that put the Belles in front for good.

Her two run homer to centre field was her first deep fly ever over a fence. 

“All my coaches have always told me to focus on hitting a line drive and if you’re early you will hit it over the fences,” she says. “I was thinking line drive, line drive and try to hit it right centre to score the run from second and then it went over.”

Audrey says the experience at this national championship has been unforgettable.

“This is the biggest tournament I’ve ever had in my life to play baseball. I’m meeting so many people like girls from New South Wales, South Australia and other states that I’m definitely going to see if I want to play up on women’s teams and hope to see them as professionals one day too,” she says.

For New South Wales White, Isabella K had a two hit performance and drove in a run. Skyla C struck out five batters in her 1.2 innings of work on the mound.

New South Wales 13 def Adelaide Seahorses 6

New South Wales Blue continued their fine form, winning 13-6 to finish the group portion of the tournament undefeated.

After the Seahorses took an early second inning lead off an Brooke McKechnie RBI, NSW poured it on.

They scored four runs in the second, six in the third and three in the fourth. Taylor O’Keefe and Yvette Wild each had two RBIs in the victory.

Despite the loss, the Seahorses’ Kira Murray says she’s been having a ball.

“I’ve made lots of new friends and became a lot better at baseball,” she says. “The Seahorses are very kind, always cheer you on and are very enthusiastic.”

The Seahorses will play NSW White tomorrow, while NSW Blue will play for gold.

West Coast Rays 15 def Brisbane Rebels 5

It was a close game until West Coast Rays pulled away late.

It was only 7-5 entering the sixth inning before the Rays piled on eight runs.

Emerson Padfield had a huge day with the bat, going 3-for-3. Zoe Dusenberg had three RBI.

Amy Summers Elliot had two of Brisbane’s four hits.

The Rays and Rebels will meet again tomorrow at 11:45AM in the Bronze Medal match.

There will only ever be “one” Day 1 in the global history of national Little Girls Championships.

Today was that day.

For the first time in herstory, there is a Little League tournament on a national level just for girls.

Here are the recaps and results from Day 1. Scroll down for standings, recaps and a couple great photos from Studio Honsa.

Watch the action tomorrow on Baseball+ live, free and around the world.

Tomorrow, the Australian Women’s Showcase starts. It features the best Australian talent and nine international World Cup stars.

Media

From radio interviews, television and digital, there was no shortage of interest in the event.

Story from NBN News: Click here.

Story in Lismore City News: Click here.

Story from NewsCorp (National): Click here.

ABC News Update (time stamp 2.11): Click here.

Ticara Geldenhuis interviewed on ABC News in the morning.

Feature from South Australia on the Adelaide Seahorses: Listen here.

Stay tuned to ABC North Coast Thursday morning for a feature on the Showcase and Little League Girls.

RESULTS

Thank you to Regional NSW and Lismore Council for making this event possible.

RECAPS

photos by Studio Honsa

NSW Blue 15 def Victoria Belles 6

In the first official game of national Little League Girls tournament history, NSW Blue piled it on in a high spirited contest.

NSW scored fifteen runs off 10 hits and secured an early 9-1 lead. Victoria Belles came on late, scoring five runs in their last two innings but fell just short.

Yvette Wyld, Caitlyn Gainsford and Emma G each had two hits and two RBI for NSW.

Emily Perks was impressive on the mound for the Belles, striking out four and allowing 0ER in 1.1 innings.

Adelaide Seahorses 13 def NSW White 5

The Seahorses mounted a ten run fifth inning to complete a mini-comeback.

Kylah Ding started strong for Adelaide, tossing 2.0 innings with five strikeouts in her start. The offence backed her up, giving the Seahorses an early 3-0 advantage.

But NSW White tallied five runs in the bottom of the fourth to move into a 5-3 lead heading into the fifth.

That’s when the Seahorses piled it on with ten in the fifth.

The Seahorses totalled eleven hits in the game and twelve players reached base. Their pitchers walked just three batters.

Georgia Gately led the charge for NSW White with two hits and an RBI.

Kylah Ding and Sasha Boundy had two hits apiece for Adelaide.

Brisbane Rebels 14 def Adelaide Seahorses 12

The Rebels pulled away early and held on late in an exciting, high-scoring win.

A patient approach at the plate led to an early 12-4 lead after two innings. Nine players from Brisbane’s roster scored a run in a total team effort where everyone contributed.

Sophia Bregonje had two hits and four RBI. Sienna Cameron struck out three batters and allowed zero earned runs on the mound for Brisbane.

The Seahorses scored eight runs in the final two innings before the game was called for time. Charlotte Wigomore led the offence with a hit and two-RBI.

West Coast Rays 10 def NSW White 9

A see-saw game for the ages.

Trailing 6-1 in the fourth inning, West Coast scored six to take the lead.

NSW White responded right away by scoring three in the top of the fifth. West Coast scored a quick couple to tie it in the bottom of the last, before Aambar Mawani cashed in the game’s winning run.

Skyla Coyle and Kali Hanrahan had two hits each for NSW White, white Georgia Gately struck out eight.

Madani had 2RBI to lead West Coast Rays.