THE quick pitching of Jared Welsh saw London Meteors win the 2007 Guernsey Men’s Fastpitch Tournament. The New Zealand international pitcher currently plies his trade for Danish League side Odense Giants and he was a guest for the Meteors at the three-day event which ended yesterday.
On Beau Sejour’s top diamond he was the telling factor as the UK side defeated Brasschaat Braves 9-2 in the final.
The Belgian team never came to terms with his pace.
‘Jared was the difference - he’s a powerhouse,’ said Meteors’ captain and catcher Kenny Pregnell.
‘He pitched five games for five wins. What brought us home was good pitching and good hitting.
‘We only lost one game so it was a near perfect effort.’
Welsh was also pleased with his performance.
‘I’m pretty happy with that. It’s been a long weekend,’ he said.
‘It’s always good to finish on a high. It’s definitely been a good tournament.
‘It’s my first time in Guernsey and I’ll definitely come back if I’m in Europe next year.’
The Braves failed to score a run off Welsh in their first and second innings, whereas their opponents got on the scoresheet at the bottom of the second as the game kicked into life when American Ramon ‘Razor’ Alexander launched pitcher Arjan Baanen high over centre field and into the bushes towards Beau Sejour for a massive home run.
The third proved to be the most productive innings for them after the Braves failed again with the bat.
First up a big hit into right field by Pregnell brought Rob Alison home after he was on third base.
Then a terrible mistake by Stefan Thilemans when the second baseman’s throw to the first base from a few
yards away was unbelievably wayward, allowed another Meteor runner to get in for another run.
This was followed by yet another wayward throw, this time by catcher Wout ‘Woody’ Cnops to allow Pregnell in and a ground hit to left field by Welsh got another runner home to make the score 5-0.
Braves eventually got their first run in the next innings when Evert Versloot followed orders to get the ball in play with a hit out to left field to be caught, but it allowed their runner to make it over the home plate. Their opponents proceeded to add another couple of runs in their next two innings as the Belgians failed to score yet again in the sixth.
The Meteors managed to get their ninth run in the sixth to leave the Braves a mountain to climb in the seventh and final innings.
‘We are disappointed because we expected it to be a closer score, but any way they are a good team and we missed a few runners,’ said the Braves coach, Argentine national player Santiago Lataire.
‘It was a shame that it wasn’t a better game. The guy [Welsh] is pretty good and it’s a surprise for us to face a pitcher like this once in a while.
‘But it’s no excuse.’
In the earlier third and fourth play-off it was an all-Guernsey affair as Mozzies defeated Rangers 13-2 to take the bronze.
Article posted on 7th August, 2007 - 12.00am
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