As the regular season of the Australian Baseball League (ABL) wrapped up, the first two playoff games were held earlier today in Australia. The Perth Heat are facing the Adelaide Giants in the first round of the semi-finals, while the Canberra Cavalry are facing the Sydney Blue Sox.
In the ABL, the semi-finals are best of three games. Here is how the games went on the first night of playoff action.
The first game of the night was between the Perth Heat and Adelaide Giants, where the Heat secured Game One over the Giants in a 2-1 final. Perth was able to strike first courtesy of a two-run home run from Angel Mateo, who scored him and Tim Kennelly for Perth to grab an early 2-0 lead in the second inning.
The Giants were able to get on the board in the bottom of the fifth, with Briley Knight hitting a solo home run, as the Giants would trail by just one. Stefan Moore would fire two innings out of the bullpen for the Heat, allowing two hits, two walks, and striking out four batters to lock down the save for the Heat to take Game 1. Tucker Smith got the start for the Heat, tossing six innings, allowing one run on five hits, no walks, and striking out three batters.
It would be another close game between the Canberra Cavalry and the Sydney Blue Sox, with the Cavalry edging the Blue Sox in a 3-2 victory.
The Blue Sox would open the scoring on a Clayton Campbell RBI single to score Brendan Ryan for them to take an early 1-0 lead.
Ryan would then add to the Blue Sox’s lead in the sixth, hitting an RBI single of his own to score Harry Fullerton. But, the top of the ninth is where things become interesting. With two runners on base, Miles Simington would drive in Robbie Perkins on an RBI single to get the Cavalry their first run of the game.
Matt Halbach would follow that up with another RBI single to score Sam Kimmorley to even things up at two apiece. Simington was able to advance to third on a stolen base and would eventually score on another RBI single from Cam Warner as the Cavalry took a 3-2 lead. Jon Kennedy would come into close the game for the Cavalry, getting Harry Fullerton to fly out, but then would hit Solomon Maguire with a pitch, but would escape the inning easily, getting Jake MacKenzie to ground out into a 4-6-3 double play for the Cavalry to come back at take Game One over the Blue Sox, 3-2.
Both teams are set to play Game Two in their series early tomorrow morning, as the Perth Heat and Adelaide Giants will face off at 3 AM EST. The Canberra Calvary and Sydney Blue Sox will face off at 3:30 AM EST. Fans who want to watch the ABL can head to Baseball+.
