Cards seal minor premiership, title rematch

ILLAWARRA BASEBALL LEAGUE

FRANK BOOTH

REIGNING champions Wests Cardinals sealed the IBL minor premiership with a 7-1 win over Bulli Pirates at Dalton Parkin round 17.

The Pirates put up little resistance, allowing the Cards three unearned runs in the first inning.

The premiers then added a run on Chase Richardson's sacrifice fly in the second before scoring further runs in the third and fifth innings.

A seventh run was scored when Josh Dean tripled and was batted in by Cameron Thompson's one-out hit in the sixth.

The Pirates' only run came in the bottom of the sixth when Luke Rich's infield hit was scored on Asa Schuster's two-out hit.

Cardinals starting pitcher Blake Handley picked up the win, conceding no earned runs on two hits in 5.2 innings.

Handley also batted 2 from 2 with support from Dean and Lee Vlasoff who also had two hits.

The Dapto Chiefs ended Kiama's faint post-season hopes with an 11-2 win at Hector Harvey Reserve.

Kiama started well, scoring a run in each of the first two innings for a 2-1 lead after their third inning.

However, disaster struck for the Braves when the hosts added three runs in the bottom of the third and a decisive six runs in the fourth. All six runs were scored with Chiefs having two outs.

The Chiefs outhit the Braves 11-4, Stuart McCarthy batting 3 from 4 and Mitchell Thompson 2 from 4 for Chiefs while Stuart Masters topped the Braves count with 2 from 3.

Aaron Mills and Tim Inglis shared the pitching for Chiefs, the former conceding three hits and one earned run while Inglis allowed two hits and no earned runs in two innings.

The results mean 2006 grand finallists Wests and Berkeley meet in the major semi at Fred Finch Park.

The elimination final will be played between Chiefs and Pirates at Dalton Park Fairy Meadow.

Both games start at 1.45pm.