THE Mordialloc Ducks have begun to write the record books with a flying start to their opening season on Saturday 14 April.
Under club president Ben Newton, the Ducks have claimed two victories from their first two games in division EL of the Melbourne Winter Baseball League and don’t look to be taking a backwards step.
The club has just the one Senior Men’s side which was accepted into the league just over a month ago, and although inexperienced, the side has been able to put back-to-back victories on the board in front of their home crowd at the Cheltenham Baseball Club.
Following their two-run win over Forest Hill on Saturday 21 April, club president Ben Newton said that he didn’t know how the side would perform this season but is glad to see them start off in a winning way.
“We entered the season with not much expectation as we didn’t know what the other teams were like and we weren’t really sure of how we would go ourselves,” he said.
“We had just the two training sessions beforehand and many of the guys are still getting used to the game – it’s been a real learning curve.”
The past couple of weeks have been filled with “firsts” for the club, with the first hit being struck by Ben Newton and the first pitch being thrown by Scott Rodda, but it was in their second week when Ben Davenport whacked home their first home-run that topped it all off.
“[It was] amazing,” Newton said. “It was in a tight spot in the game and he got every bit of it. Seeing all the guys come out and congratulate him was really special.”
The Ducks are more of a “social club” for those who are restricted by work and other time restricting factors, and therefore don’t do mid-week training but Newton said they still go out on the field and give it their all.
“The focus for our club is definitely the social side of the sport but we are still quite competitive on the field,” he said. “We would love to put together a Women’s side and another Men’s team next season and eventually look at a T-ball or juniors program.”
While the season has started the fixture for the league hasn’t been published as of yet so the Ducks will take every game on a week-by-week basis.
