Chiefs steal Pirates’ gold

ILLAWARRA BASEBALL LEAGUE

FRANK BOOTH

A HOME run in the bottom of the ninth from second baseman Mitchell Thompson saw the Dapto Chiefs steal victory in the IBL elimination final at Dalton Park.

With his side trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Thompson smashed a three run homer to seal victory and book the Chiefs' a match with Berkeley in Saturday's preliminary final.

The Pirates looked the better side, especially after Brendan Lower gave Pirates a 3-2 lead when he batted in two runs in the fourth.

To make the loss all the harder, the Pirates outhit the Chiefs 11-7 and made two errors to three.

Thompson had three hits for the Chiefs.

Simon Cooper pitched 7.2 innings for the Chiefs, allowing three earned runs on eleven hits before Tim Inglis closed with three hits and one earned run in 1.1 innings.

The Chiefs will meet Berkeley in the preliminary final after the Eagles were shutout 4-nil by defending premiers Wests Cardinals.

A tight pitching duel between Blake Handley (Cardinals) and Josh Doyle (Eagles) produced a scoreless result for four innings, before the Cardinals broke through with two runs in the fifth.

Cardinals reliever Jamie Simon kept the Eagles hitters in check in the last four innings before Cardinals scored the additional runs in the eighth.

The top-class pitching from Handley and Doyle, plus tight defence from both teams saw just three runners from each make base in the first four innings.

Handley pitched five innings and allowed no earned runs with two hits while Doyle pitched five innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits.

Relief pitchers Jamie Simon and Jarrett Commane put up top performances as well but the Cardinals hitters scored two runs in the eighth.

Simon would finish up with a save of Handley's winning effort. Cardinals outhit Eagles 7-3, Josh Dean being the game's only multiple hitter with 2 from 4.

Saturday's major semi-final will be played at Fred Finch Park, with first pitch in the main game at 1.45pm.