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MALTA SURPRISES EUROPE AT THE EUROPEAN QUALIFIERS
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Malta has just returned from the Baseball European Qualifiers where the tiny island’s representatives surprised Europe during their first international appearance ever. Fourth place is not unusual for a newcomer, but Malta progressed steadily during the Qualifiers held in Antwerp, Belgium. Team Malta faced favorites Belgium, Austria and Switzerland, in a rainy qualifier, forcing some games to be rescheduled. Malta’s handicap was that only twelve ballplayers could make the trip to Belgium, limiting manager Ray Bartolo’s depth in the line-up and pitching staff. |
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MABS Presents Seven Year Development Plan
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MABS President, Mario Debono met with representatives from all the baseball teams at the Maritime Antonine Hotel in Mellieha to discuss the strategy MABS will be putting into place between now and 2015.
Debono said the emphases will be on increasing participation at all levels and sectors of MABS, but particular emphases will be given to the youths and coaches. By 2015 MABS wants to have in place a solid base of 6 teams in the National League supported by 360 members from the current 120 members.
MABS will also be working to increase the numbers of umpires and scorekeepers, and particular emphases will be given to developing non playing officials. With this in mind MABS already appointed Charles Attard to be responsible for the scorers work group and will also act as the MABS Scorer representative to the Confederation of European Baseball. The next steps will be to to appiont the Umpires representative and re-establish the Coaches Committee to help further strengthen the administrative structure within MABS.
A number of incentives for players, umpires and scorers where announced with more details to follow.
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GOZO TORNADOES 2008 BASEBALL CHAMPIONS
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 The Gozo Tornadoes could have not chosen a better time to bring the championship title back to Gozo. Marking the club’s tenth anniversary since its foundation. The Tornadoes managed to turn a disappointing season into a memorable one, after beating the Mellieha Northenders last Saturday. The Northenders, who had won the title four times in a row, were no match for the Tornadoes, the latter having found its dominant form during the last quarter of the season.
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Devils come out hot against Mustangs but cool down half way.
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What started out as a close game between the 2nd placed Mustangs and the Devils did not end that way, since it was once again a game which ended due to the mercy-rule in the 5th inning.
The 1st inning didn’t start off too well for the Devils, who allowed 6 runs, 4 of which came after they had made the 2nd out. However despite their defensive errors, the Devils more than made up for it in the bottom of the inning by scoring 7 runs thanks to RBI (Runs Batted In) hits by Robert Mifsud, Silvan Busuttil, and John Farrugia. The Devils also took advantage of 2 walks and 2 hit-by-pitches but ended the inning leaving 3 runners stranded with the bases loaded.
The 2nd inning was a quick one, in the top of the inning the Mustangs scored 2 runs in the Devils only errorless inning, however the home team were not able to repeat their 1st inning success and the score remained 8-7.
The Mustangs then scored another 4 in the 3rd, however the Devils managed to end the inning on two pop-flies to shortstop and 3rd base. At the bottom of the inning Mustangs pitcher Mark Buttigieg was replaced by Steve Ritchie. The Devils once again scored no runs.
After suffering 4 runs in the top of the 4th Giancarlo Tolu was substituted by Silvan Busuttil who ended the inning with 4 pitches. Steve Ritchie then replied by striking out 2 in the bottom of the inning, allowing no hits to once again shut down the Devils offense.
The 5th inning turned out to be the last one of the game, after the Mustangs managed to score 6 runs off pitcher Busuttil thanks to hits by most of their line-up. In fact the game stopped at 2 outs, since the 15 run-difference rule came into place when the score became 22-7. Sunday’s game started off as a close one, but in the end it was clear that the team who managed to settle in sooner won the game. Although the Devils wreaked some havoc in the 1st inning, it was not enough to keep them going, had they committed less errors defensively and kept their bats hot after the first inning they might have actually given the Mustangs a run for their money.
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Gozo Finish Regular Season with a Win
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The last week of the regular season ended on a positive note for Gozo, beating the reigning champions twelve to five in just seven innings.
The Tornadoes rallied on in the top of the first, scoring four runs in their first five plate appearances, thanks to consecutive singles by Rodney Debono, Gary DeBrincat and a bunt single by Charlie Attard. The Northenders replied back in the bottom of the third with one run, and another in the bottom of the fourth. After a decisive error by Gozo's defense, Mellieha rallied in the fifth, and tied the game off reliever Steven Galea. Galea came in for Attard with two outs in the fifth inning, after the latter was dominating on the mound, striking out nine batters in just four and two-thirds of an inning.
Gozo then fought back in the top of the sixth, scoring six runs off reliever Clint Grima, and then scoring the twelfth run in the top of the seventh in order to win the game. Reliever Galea did a fantastic job by throwing two scoreless innings, taking away any hope left for Mellieha to make a comeback. First baseman Gary DeBrincat had a stellar performance at the plate, going three for four with a double while rookie sensation, Joshua Gauci had a spectacular game at second base, making a diving catch in the bottom of the second to prevent extra bases, and had five putouts and four assists.
The Tornadoes will now face the Mustangs next Sunday to start their playoff season.
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Mustangs End Northenders Winning Streak
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The Mustangs continued where they ended in this game which was postponed by rain and kept scoring runs, putting pressure on the Mellieha team which seemed to be falling apart at times without Keith and Michael Bartolo there to lead the way! The Bartolo brothers are now playing for Jeka, a first division Baseball club in Holland.
The Mustangs started off by adding 3 runs bringing the score to 7-2 in the just the second inning. Then after a scoreless third inning both teams scored 2 in the fourth inning to make the score 9-4.
The fifth inning was not a good inning for the Northenders as the Mustangs kept hitting and with number of defensive errors helped the Mustangs score 9 runs. Mark Buttigieg and Trevor Shaw made an impact in the Mustangs line up with 2 RBIs (runners batted in) each and the score was then 18-4. Mellieha only managed to reply by scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the inning giving the Mustangs a 18-6 win on the 10 run difference rule.
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Northenders come right back with a win in double header against Mustangs
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This game which could have easily been a close game ended up with a win to Northenders mainly thanks to Marlon Borg who pitched a great game allowing the Mustangs only 4 base hits.
The Mustangs's young pitcher Mark Buttigieg got off to a bad start walking three Mellieha batters and allowing 4 runs to score before being replaced by Patrick Pace early in the game. Marlon Borg and the Mellieha defence then kept the score 4-0 at the end of the 1st inning.
The Mustangs in this game only managed to score one run in the second inning and another 1 run in the 6th inning. Mellieha scored another 2 runs in the 5th inning. This win for the Northenders will guarantee them them 1st place for the playoffs where they will meet the team finishing 4th. The 2nd and 3rd place teams will then play for a place in the best of three championship final.
This Saturday Mellieha will host the Gozo Tornadoes at 14.00 while Sunday the Mustangs will play the Devils at 10.00. Both games will be at the Marsa Baseball field.
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Mustangs too strong for Gozo Rookies while Mellieha remain unbeaten
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Last Saturday, the 3rd round of the 2008 National League opened with a rivalry game between the Gozo Tornadoes and the Mustangs. Gozo had three important veteran players missing for this game, and were replaced by young rookies Joshua Gauci, Manuel Grima and Dylan Xerri, who performed very well during the game. The game started off as an exciting one, with a score of 3 – 2 up to the middle of the fifth inning. The Mustangs then came out as the stronger opponent, beating the Tornadoes 12 – 2 in eight innings.
Mustangs’ starting pitcher, Mark Buttigieg pitched a fine game, allowing just two runs in five innings, and striking out a career high of six batters. Gozo’s starting pitcher, Steven Galea also pitched well in four frames, allowing only three runs to cross the plate. The Mustangs jumped over Gozo’s Mark Buttigieg, after coming in to relief for Galea. Buttigieg allowed six runs in two innings. Mustangs’ first baseman Ruben Gatt had a productive game, going three for five with two runs batted in and a stolen base. Veteran third baseman Patrick Pace also had a good offensive game, going two for four with a double, one run batted in and a stolen base. Gozo’s Buttigieg drove in the only two runs, thanks to a two for four performance.
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Mellieha Northender’s Bartolo brothers to play in Dutch 1st Division
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Keith and Michael Bartolo will be playing for the Jeka Baseball club in Breda. Charles van der Meijs General Manager for the Dutch Division 1 Jeka Baseball Club was recently in Malta to finalise the details of the transfer of the Bartolo Brothers from the Mellieha Northenders to Jeka.
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Tee Ball Sessions to start in April
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What is ‘Tee ball’ ball?
Tee Ball is a game for boys and girls, based on Baseball and is intended as an introduction for young players to develop baseball or softball skills and have FUN.
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Mustangs shutout the Devils as Northender’s winning streak continues following a string of errors fr
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The Devils performance in their game against the Mustangs last Saturday wasn't even close to how they played the Tornadoes last week, where they scored 6 runs. This time their opposing team scored 16 runs too, but the feat took the Mustangs just 2 innings and 1 hour.
We saw a good performance by Mustangs pitcher Mark Buttigieg, who had some control problems last season but showed improvement in this game. The Mustangs bats also came alive to the despair of the Devils who have been improving offensively lately.
The Devils managed to get hits from Claude Busutil and Robert Mifsud but the rest of the line up was rather stopped by Mark Buttigieg’s pitching or by a solid Mustang defence.
The Mustangs catcher Shawn Ritchie hit a pop-fly straight to the pitcher to start off the bottom of the 2nd inning, but the Mustangs then went through the next 8 batters, who each scored a run, before the Devils managed to make the 2nd out, on another fly-ball by Ritchie. After facing another 4 batters, Devil’s pitcher Busuttil was replaced on the mound by John Farrugia, who unfortunately did not manage to limit the damage. In fact 4 runs were scored before Reuben Gatt, was tagged out at home for the last out of the inning.
But the damage was done and the game had to be stopped once again due to the run-difference rule with the final score 16-0.
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Rain spoils Mustangs chances of breaking the Mellieha Northenders winning streak
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Saturday’s game saw the Northenders hosting the Mustangs with the Bartolo brothers missing from their side. Keith Bartolo along with younger brother Michael were at a Baseball training camp in Portugal and a trail to play for Jeka Breda a first division team in Holland.
Keith was first seen by Charles Van der Meijs, when he was in here in Malta last year for a Baseball promoters course organized by MABS [Maltese Baseball Softball Association] with CEB [European Baseball Federation] and invited him to visit his club Jeka Breda in Holland.
This was sure to be the Mustangs best opportunity to break the Northenders winning streak. Unfortunately for the Mustangs though the rain wouldn’t allow the game to go further than the 2nd inning and had to be held up with the Mustangs leading 4 runs to 2.
In Baseball though, if the game is stopped due to rain without playing at least 5 innings the game will continue on another day with the same score as they left off, the same players in the line up as started, same score with same runners on base.
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Mustangs win against Gozo Tornadoes while Mellieha Northenders winning streak continues
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What was expected to be a close game between the visiting Gozo Tornadoes and the Mustangs, turned out to be a lopsided 13 – 3 drubbing in favor of the Mustangs.
The Mustangs overpowered their opponents with a strong pitching performance and an equally impressive batting performance from most of their lineup. Third baseman, Steve Ritchie topped the team in offense with his 3 for 4 performance. He now leads his team with 5 hits on the season. Mustang rookie second baseman, Sebastian Giudice ignited the offense early on with a hard hit RBI double in the second inning. He also led the team with two stolen bases.
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Mellieha Northender’s Undefeated after first round
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Mellieha’s talented young pitcher Mike Bartolo knew Sal Varriale was watching him, a Major League scout for the Cincinnati Reds, last Sunday and both teams realized it was going to be a tough game for the Mustangs. The Mustangs only managed to get 4 hits in this game before going down 17-1 with the 15 run difference rule in just 4 innings. This was mainly due to Mike’s pitching performance but the Northenders gave him full support when they were up to bat.
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Watch BASEBALL
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Baseball season started in Malta and soon MLB along with Italian Baseball.
You can watch Baseball on:
- NASN (Melita Cable TV)
- Satelite TV
- MLB tv (subscribe on Internet)
- FreeeTV.com (Internet- http://www.freeetv.com/)
- P2P (http://www.myp2p.eu/index.php?part=sports)
- Italian baseball (RAI 3 and RAI Sport)
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Mustangs defeat the Devils while Gozo Tornadoes comeback not enough against Mellieha Northenders
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Saturday’s game saw the Mustangs defeating the Devils 16-5. This turned out to be the Devils best game so far, managing to score 5 runs, keeping the Mustangs scoreless for 2 innings and only 3 runs difference coming into the 5th inning with the Mustangs ahead by 8 runs to 5. Then the Mustangs batted in 5 runs in the 6th inning, leaving the Devils with there 3rd consecutive lose but showing a great deal of improvement in each game played so far. The Mustangs on the other hand can be proud of last years ‘Rookie of the Year’ Kevin Spiteri, making his debut pitching for his first win. |
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Scorekeeping Seminar
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MABS is organising a Scorekeeping Seminar Saturday 5th January 1.00pm at the Victoria Hotel in Sliema. The course is 4 hours long and there is no entrance fee.
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MABS Family Day (Postponed due to bad weather)
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(Postponed due to bad weather)
MABS Family Day will be organised on the 13th December 2007.
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Training Sessions Thursdays at 17.15 and Saturdays at 12.30
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New rules for 2008 Season starting in February
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Baseball Sub-Committee meeting was held regarding the structure of the league and the following points were decided...
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TEE BALL..... Children ages 7-10
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Mustangs eventually need to start our own nursery and should have an Assistant coach helping out with Tee ball. Then start later in his or her own. So if there is anyone willing to help let us know. We should inform others about the Tee ball so we will have more youths playing and future Mustangs. For more info call me on 79708951.
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Mustangs Committee elections
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Patrick Pace - Club President
Trevor Shaw - Tresurer
Secretary and PRO are still vacant so if anyone is willing to help or knows someone interested let us know.
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Team from Mustangs wins 1st Mini Baseball Tournament
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The 'Bench Warmers' made up of Shawn and Steve Ritchie, Malcom Muscat and Kevin Spiteri win deciding game against more Mustang Players - Carlos Miranda and newcomer Sebastian Vilar-Giudice along with youth Glen and Kirsten Caruana.
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Mustangs Website Launched
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Welcome to the new Mustangs Baseball Club Website.
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