ABL Game 1: Blue Sox open up the season with a win

The Sydney Blue Sox and Canberra Cavalry opened the new Australian Baseball League in style on Saturday night, with the Blue Sox running out 1-0 victors in a game dominated by defense. The Blue Sox benefited from some clutch hitting from centrefielder Mitch Dening, who slapped a 2-out single to score Tim Auty in the bottom of the eigth. The Cavalry were unable to overcome the Sydney pitching in the ninth, and Dae-Sung Koo closed out the game by striking out Nick Kimpton.

It has been a decade since we have had a professional baseball league in Australia, and the eyes of all local baseball enthusiasts were on Blacktown Olympic Park to see how the ABL would turn it on tonight. All in all, it has to be said that professionalism was the order of the day. Apart from some minor technical difficulties with a microphone, it was a very professional operation. Major League Baseball USA has thrown a fair bit of money behind this competition, and there seemed to be a good number of officials on hand to make sure a quality product was delivered.

There was plenty of ceremony about the occasion - in what could be seen as a somewhat self indulgent exercise, a helicopter flew in current ABL Baseball Operations Manager, Ben Foster, and a young lad to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. After the formalities , the general atmosphere was great. Off the field there was music, activities for kids, giveaways, mascots and a variety of food and merchandise stands. Many fans could be overheard reminiscing about the old Sydney Blues/Wave days, with games at Parramatta Stadium or Moore Park. In an obvious nod to another famous 'Sox' team, Sweet Caroline was played in the seventh inning stretch, and the crowd were happy to sing along. It was clear that all were very happy to be back at a pro ball game.

On the field, it was a dominant defensive display from both sides. Chris Oxspring threw a strike for the first pitch - and it was the first of many. Oxspring struck out 8 hitters over 6 innings and showed plenty of zip - regularly hitting 90mph - as well as good command and some very useful offspeed pitches. Oxspring was replaced by David Welch, who continued the dominance; striking out 2 of the 4 hitters he faced and continuing the shutout. Wayne Lundgren, Matt Williams and Dae-Sung Koo carried on the good work and closed out the game without giving up a hit.

On the other side of the ledger, Steve Kent went out very well, facing only 7 hitters over 2 innings of work. Presumably he was on a pitch count - as he was replaced by Michael Lennox after 2 digs. Following Lennox were two of the Korean imports: Jun-Hyeok Heo and Jung-Min Lee, who were also very effective.

Credit for the first hit of the new league went to Sydney's Tim Auty, who smacked a line drive to center in the first inning. But it was not until the fourth inning until we saw another hit. Canberra's thirdbaseman Kyu-Hyun Moon reached on a one-out single to right field. Things looked a little dangerous for the Blue Sox when Nick Kimpton backed this up immediately by slapping another shot to right field. However, Moon ambitiously tried to go from first to third, and tested out young David Kandilas' arm. Kandilas showed why the Rockies were keen to sign him when he threw a laser to Trent D'Antonio at third to easily catch out Moon.

The next real opportunity came in the bottom of the sixth. Again it was Kandilas and D'Antonio working together to fire up the Blue Sox. Kandilas led off with a walk, and D'Antonio stepped in to drive a single to left, moving Kandilas to second. Tim Auty then stepped in and laid down a textbook sacrifice bunt down the third baseline that was very nearly an infield single. This moved the runners across to second and third with one out. The Cavalry chose to walk Mitch Dening to get to Blue Sox designated hitter Pat Maat, who was unable to come through with the goods. He was followed by Andrew Graham, who grounded out weakly to end the inning with no score.

The game remained locked at nil all until the bottom of the eighth. The first two hitters were retired, before Tim Auty stepped up for his second hit of the night - a single to left. He then picked up a stolen base on a 3-1 pitch to Mitch Dening. This left Dening staring down a 3-2 count, and he handled the situation well - driving the ball to centerfield and bringing in Auty from second.

The Blue Sox then went to their closing staff, with Matt Williams and Dae-Sung Koo coming in to shut down the Cavalry in the 9th and end the game 1-0.

While the starting pitching from Oxspring laid the foundation for the Blue Sox, Tim Auty was the obvious selection for most valuable player. He picked up the first hit of the new league, and went 2-for-3 on the night, also picking up a perfectly executed sac bunt. In the field he took a very nice catch and looked generally solid. Other stars for the Sox included Michael Lysaught, who was silky smooth at short stop; Mitch Dening
who clutched up big time to drive in the run; David Kandilas who took two nice catches and picked up a nice outfield assist for shooting down Moon. Boss Moanaroa was also quite solid- he made some nice defensive plays and had some good at bats.

For the Cavalry, pitching was a strength, and all the Korean imports impressed. Great defensive efforts from Moon and Kimpton punctuated a solid all round display.

The game ended with a decent fireworks display and with the Blue Sox taking time to say hello to fans and sign autographs. After ten long years, professional baseball is back in Australia, and the fans loved every minute of it.