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Athletics win fist NDBL game

May 24, 2013   ·   0 Comments

It has been a long time since Alliston has entered a team in the North Dufferin Baseball League (NDBL).

The new Junior division team – the Alliston Athletics – played their first game of the season on

Thursday, May 16, against the Creemore Braves and left with a 6–2 win to start the season.

It would have been the squad’s third game of the year but the first two scheduled road games were postponed due to rain delays.

It should be no surprise that the Athletics turned out a good performance in their first at-bat.

“We have a core group of nine who have been playing together for 11 years,” said coach Colin Iddison.

Those players moved up to the Junior division after playing last season in the Midget division of the Tottenham Minor Baseball League.

Thursday’s game got underway with both teams scoring singles at the end of the first inning.

Alliston’s Zack Riddell crossed the plate driven in by a single by Dave Blanch.

Riddell’s next at-bat resulted in a deep drive to centre field with Riddell making it to second for the double.

Geoff Campbell drove in the next Alliston run with a single.

The sixth inning saw the bases loaded with three Athletics runners on base.

A walk on the fourth batter brought in another Alliston run.

The Braves decided to change things up and brought a new pitcher to the mound in an attempt to shut down the Athletics.

The new Creemore pitcher turned out to be somewhat of a wild card, who could place a nice curve across the plate and deliver an impressive knuckle-ball. He also had moments in between that resulted in some high balls, but overall he was a challenge to hit against for the Alliston team.

The game ended with a 6–2 win for Alliston and a good start to their season in the NDBL.

“Our practises have been going really strong,” Iddison said. “We were fairly solid in this game with a lot of consistency at bat. We had some good pick-off moves.”

The team played a smart game when it came to defensive posturing and as a result they kept the Creemore players in check without making an damaging mistakes.

“They weren’t taking a lot of defensive risks,” Iddison said, referring to some conservative play that avoided any errors – especially with a runner on second base.

The Junior division of the NDBL has six teams this season with the addition of Stayner.

The Orangeville AirFx dropped out this year after failing to fill the roster with committed players.

The Athletics will return to their home diamond at the northwest corner of Riverdale Park in Alliston on Thursday, May 23 to host the Orillia Minors. The first pitch is slated for 6 p.m.

By Brian Lockhart

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