By Sean Talbot
The Upwey Ferntree Gully Tigers officially punched their ticket to the postseason with a commanding 7-0 over the Sandringham Royals at Tulip St Reserve on Tuesday 5 March, officially ending the Royals finals chances at the same time. Knowing the implications of a win for both teams (although miscalculated by Tigers staff during the week), Upwey handed the ball to Jarrod Turner as they looked to ride their staff ace and attempt to secure their 17th win of the season, while Sandringham sent their veteran ace Grant Irving to go head-to-head with Turner and extend the Royals season.
The Tigers looked to set the tone from the jump, as Pete Schroeders lined the second pitch of the game to centerfield for a base hit before Wade McConnon laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, requiring two outstanding plays from third baseman Josh Meyr and first baseman Sam Trend-Beacom to record the out and allowing Schroeders to advance to second. Upwey were unable to capitalize on the runner in scoring position though, as Jordan Elliott was jammed on a groundball and Josh Hendricks flew out to retiring Royals legend Matt Blackmore in centerfield to end the inning. Turner began the game in the best way imaginable, striking out the side in order sit the Royals down 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the inning.
Irving continued to make short work of the Tigers hitters in the top of the 2nd inning, needing only nine pitches to get coach Donavon Hendricks to ground out to second base, serve up a base hit to Jack Ratcliffe, induce an infield fly from Harvey Chinn and a groundout from Staci Rogers to again keep Upwey scoreless in the 2nd inning and showing signs of his typical efficient efforts on the mound, needing only 17 pitches through the first two innings. Looking to help his own cause, Irving , hitting in the clean-up spot for Sandringham, led of the bottom of the 2nd with a jam shot double to right field, however Turner applied the screws, securing a flyball, a strikeout and a groundout from the next three Royals hitters to leave Irving stranded at second.
While the scorebook shows that Nick Rice led off the top of the 3rd inning with a popout in foul territory, it does not do justice to the quality of the at-bat he had. Fouling off six pitches and seeing 11 total, Rice shook Irving’s resolve and well and truly set the stage for a big inning as Irving appeared gassed and frustrated as Schroeders stepped to the plate and was promptly walked on four pitches before McConnon also worked a walk, with Schroeders stealing second base during the at-bat. Elliott singled to centerfield on an 0-2 count to load the bases before J Hendricks wore a pitch on a 1-2 count to bring home Schroeders and score Upwey’s first run of the inning, D Hendricks singled to score McConnon and Ratcliffe singled to score Elliott to push the score to 3-0 with the bases still loaded and one out. Irving battled back to strike out Chinn and Rogers, but not before he uncorked a wild pitch during Rogers’ at bat to score J Hendricks and give Upwey a 4-0 lead and needed 42 pitches to finally finish the inning.
Despite surrendering a lead off single to start the bottom of the 3rd, Turner never looked panicked as he struck out Ty Daniels and got Lachlan Smith to ground into the rare 1-6-3 double play to quickly end the inning, the back end of the play drawing the ire of the home crowd who believed Smith beat the throw despite umpire David Rice’s call of out.
Irving was immediately taken from the flame to the fire (or in this case, the fire to a bigger fire) in the top of the 4th, as Rice led off with a single, Schroeders walked and McConnon singled to score Rice and move Schroeders to third base whilst himself scampering to second on the throw. Schroeders scored on a passed ball during Elliott’s at-bat which move McConnon to third, before the Upwey catcher lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to score McConnon and move the score to 7-0 in favor of the Tigers before the Hendricks brothers were retired on a fly ball and a ground ball to end the frame. Sandringham looked to create some momentum in the bottom half of the inning as Harro Wills led off with a single, however Sam Trend-Beacom and Irving grounded out to McConnon at shortstop before Declan Ferguson weakly flew out to Rice in centerfield to end the frame.
Surprisingly taking the mound in the 5th inning despite his ballooning pitch count, Irving continued to battle for his side and sat Ratcliffe, Chinn and Rogers down in order to quickly give the home squad another chance at bat as they looked to break into the run column, however Turner had ideas of his own. Clearly a fan of the “Go To Jail” square in Monopoly, the Tigers ace ensured nobody passed Go or collected $200 as a pair of strikeouts and a weak fly ball sat the Royals down in order, sending the game to the 5th inning with no change to the score.
Irving again took the mound in the 6th inning and continued battling the Upwey hitters, getting Rice to ground out and pinch hitter Flynn Morrison to fly out to the infield before surrendering a two-out single to McConnon before Elliott flew out to right to strand McConnon and deny the Tigers another run. Turner continued his dominance against Sandringham in the bottom half of the inning, using the growing shadows to full advantage whilst his command and velocity only got better, again striking out a pair and inducing a weak ground ball to sit Sandringham down 1-2-3 to end the frame.
Looking to finish what he started despite the score line, Irving again took the mound in the 7th inning and was able to escape with minimal worries, working a three-up, three-down inning against the Hendricks brothers and Ratcliffe to send the game to the bottom of the 7th and Sandringham’s last chance for the evening, as despite having 30 minutes available in game time, the fading light was making tracking the ball harder and player safety was evidently at the front of the minds of umpires Welsh and Rice. Turner was in no mood for a fairytale comeback similar to the one the Royals put together in the first half of the season, quickly striking out Trend-Beacom and getting groundouts from Irving and Ferguson to end the game, lock down the 7-0 win for the Tigers and put an end to the Royals season as the loss mathematically eliminates them from the possibility of playoffs.
The win improves the Tigers record to 17-9-1 on the season as they now have a stranglehold on 3rd place on the Premier League ladder, with Essendon (15-10) and Sandringham (15-11) unable to catch them, whilst Waverley (19-5-1) will finish in 1st place as Minor Premiers and Blackburn (18-8-1) will finish in 2nd even if the Tigers can beat them this weekend and match their record due to picking up two wins against the reigning premiers in earlier season contests.
