Glen Iris took the win in a low-scoring D1 contest last Saturday, 5-1 over La Trobe.
It was a chilly afternoon, but Glen Iris was onto a red-hot start scoring four runs to none in the first two innings.
But the cold must’ve gotten to both teams as both went runless for the third, fourth and fifth innings.
The teams got their mojos back in the sixth scoring a run each, with a scoreless last dig leaving the scoreline at 5-1.
Glen Iris’ team manager, Neal McIntyre, commented on how taking the early lead helped their game.
“It helped the mentality of our team a lot,” he said.
“We often do take a while to warm up sometimes, so having the lead gave us a different mindset towards the game, which gave us a lot of confidence.”
McIntyre chose Andy Fortner as player of the week for his great pitching effort.
“[Fortner] started on the mound, got a lot of strikes and moving the ball around,” he said.
“[La Trobe] were trying to figure out his game at the start so it took them a while to get on base.”
Despite the shout-out from his coach, Fortner gave all the credit to his teammates for backing him up.
“Everyone on the team had my back,” he said.
“When the ball was hit to people in the field they would always come up and make the play.”
Fortner also mentioned that having the early lead helped his mindset too.
“Pitching from behind is always hard,” he said.
“So pitching with that lead definitely relieved some of that pressure you usually have which helped a lot.”
Next weekend La Trobe play Alfredton at home, while Glen Iris stay home to face Heathmont.
Match of the Round is chosen in-advance each week and designed to provide coverage of the entire league across the season. It is produced with support from the MWBL’s communications and content partner, The Content Engine.
