The Playoff game between the Northenders and the Devils saw Mellieha’s Marlon Borg pitching his team to a win; striking out 11 of the 20 batters he faced and allowing just 1 run in the 5-inning game.
The Devils showed their improvement during the first three innings of the game, only allowing two runs per inning, however this was not enough and the game was lost once again due to the 10-run difference rule which came into affect to stop the game after Marlon Borg’s, no out, RBI [Run Batted In] single in the bottom of the fifth.
Giancarlo Tolu also pitched a good game, striking out a career-high five batters. However the Devils seem to have some problems when fielding infield ground balls, in fact no outs were made at the bases, while quite a few were made on infield pop flies and long fly balls to the outfield.
During the game Mellieha’s offense was sparked by Steven Grima’s home run in the third inning, as well as his RBI double in the fourth and Marlon Borg’s RBI double in the first. In all the Northenders connected for nine hits, scoring 11 runs. While the Devils solitary run was scored by Jonathan Sammut on Silvan Busuttil’s single to right-field in the second inning.
The two teams will now be facing each other again today to play the second game of the Playoffs. The winner of the Devils-Northenders match-up will be facing the winner of the Tornadoes-Mustangs in the Championship Final.
Gozo Tornadoes win first encounter with Mustangs 21-17
A close game was expected between these teams but seeing so many runs scored was something else.
For the first time this year MABS (Maltese Baseball Softball Association) introduced a pitch count of 85 pitches in order to pressure clubs to develop new pitchers. This game saw the result of each team using all there pitching strength available with both team’s starting pitchers replaced after pitching more than 85 pitches.
The pitching changes resulted in more hitting rallies for both teams with Gozo having the better relief pitching and committing less defensive errors and ending on the winning side in this game.
Game 1 of this playoff saw both team’s bats on fire with plenty of base hits, RBI’s and runs scored.
Gozo’s Steve Galea lead the way for his team offensively hitting a Homerun, a single, a double, three runs and two RBI’s and Shaun Chirchop hitting three singles, a double and five runs scored. While for the Mustangs Patrick Pace hit two home runs, a single, three runs and two RBI’s. Jason Mesimer also hitting well with five singles an RBI and two runs scored.