Round four of the Senior League Select competition saw the Marlins take on the Mariners at Runcorn Indians Baseball Club. In a tight contest, the Marlins fell behind early and couldn’t come back in a 4-2 loss to the Mariners. The Mariners scored a triple by Jake Calver, scoring one run, and a groundout by Remi Watson in the first inning. Raul Romero was on the pitcher’s mound for the Mariners allowing zero hits and zero runs over one and two-thirds innings, striking out two. Genki Nishimura went 1-for-2 at the plate to lead the Marlins in hits.

Over at Mt Gravatt, the Blue Jays battled it out with the Pirates. After three innings of play the Pirates led the Blue jays 8-2, in a storm-affected game. The Blue Jays went ahead in the first innings with Lovering scoring off Ikeda’s hard-hit ground ball to left field. Ikeda added to the runs on fly ball to centre field by Komene. The Pirates piled on six runs in the top of the second with Huntley, Treagle, Ford, Wise, Gavranich and Pietsch scoring. Huntley and Treagle scored again in the top of the third leaving the Blue Jays no opportunity for a comeback when the game was called owing to bad weather.

“The Senior League Select competition is hitting the mark and allowing players an opportunity to stretch their playing skills against high-quality opposition,” said Brad Parsons, Head Coach of the Mariners. Nate Mikevskiy, Head Coach for the Marlins, echoed these sentiments and said it was “amazing to see the best pitchers for this age group have to battle it out against an entire lineup of quality batters.” According to parents, one of the highlights for the players was the opportunity to play with players from outside their own club and to work with knowledgeable and skilled coaches who expose you to different ideas and perspectives.

Geoff Wade, Director and Chair of the Participation Committee, said that this program was about providing a ‘next-level opportunity’ and more games for U16 age players. A positive evaluation of this program will see similar programs implemented for other age groups.

Two weeks remain in the competition before reseeding for semifinals.