Perth Heat  7,  Adelaide Bite  1
The Perth Heat dominated the Adelaide Bite in the tie-breaker winner-takes-all third game of the Australian Baseball League championship series.  Pitchers ruled during the first four innings of the game, though the Adelaide bats had no bite for the rest of the game either.  The Bite went down in order in the first two innings, then DH Scott Gladstone singled to lead off the 3rd.  But Gladstone was immediately thrown out trying to steal second base, and the next 9 Bite batters were retired in order.  Perth starter Benjamin Moore hit a batter in the 6th and had a Bite runner reach base on an error in the 7th, but he worked around those runners with ease.  He gave up a single in the 8th, but erased that minor threat with a double play.  Moore allowed two more hits in the 9th, and even though one of those was a solo homer by 3B Stefan Welch, he held on to finish the inning for the complete game.  LF Quincy Latimore went 0-for-4 for the Bite.
Former Altoona Curve hurler Paul Mildren made the start for the Bite, and like Saturday's starter, he was able to keep the Heat scoreless for 4 innings.  The first inning was a bit tricky.  Mildren gave up a lead-off single, though that runner was caught stealing.  Then a walk and another single put two runners on base.  A timely double play got Mildren and the Bite out of the jam.  Mildren went on to retire the next 10 batters in order, taking him into the 5th inning.  As on Saturday, that's when things fell apart.  A single, a walk, and a ground out put two runners into scoring position, and a double drove both runners in.  Another single plated the runner from second base, and the Heat had a 3-0 lead.  That was all for Mildren, who was charged with the loss.  He was replaced by the Bite's top reliever, Dushan Ruzic, who finished the 5th, then retired the Heat in order in the 6th and 7th.  The Heat rallied again in the 8th inning.  A single and a double drove in one run, then a 2-run homer made the score 6-0.  The Heat added one more run on a hit batter, a wild pitch, a passed ball, and a sacrifice fly.  The Bite's lone run in the top of the 9th was too little, too late, and the Heat had the championship and the Claxton Shield, the traditional trophy of Australian Baseball.


So, that's the end of the 2010-2011 winter ball.... just in time for Spring Training, as the Pirates' pitchers and catchers report to Bradenton today! 

Perth Heat  9,  Adelaide Bite  2
The Perth Heat came roaring back to win the second game of the Australian Baseball League's championship series on Saturday (early hours for US time zones), forcing a winner-take-all final game on Sunday.  Bite starter Brandon Maurer had the Heat under his thumb for the first four innings.  He struck out the side in the 1st, and went on to allow only two base runners over the next three innings -- a batter reached on an error in the 2nd and a single in the 4th.  But Perth came out swinging in the top of the 5th, starting with a lead-off homer.  A walk and two singles loaded the bases, then after a line out to short, two singles drove in three runs.  Maurer got a strikeout, but then gave up a walk to load the bases, and he was relieved by Reed Brown.  The first batter Brown faced, Heat CF Ronnie Welty, smashed a grand slam over the right field wall to give Perth an 8-run inning.  The Heat added an extra run in the 8th on a double, a wild pitch, and a single.  
The Bite scratched out their first run in the 3rd inning, on a double by 1B Ben Wigmore, a sacrifice bunt, and an RBI ground out.  3B Stefan Welch led off the 8th inning with another double.  Like the Heat in the top of the inning, a wild pitch moved the runner to third base, and an RBI ground out drove in the run.  LF Quincy Latimore beat out a grounder to second for a single to open the 4th inning, but he was left on base.