Pine Hills Lightning – Baseball
Last Friday night we took ourselves off to the Pine Hills Baseball field at James Drysdale Reserve off the Jinka Track and watched a major league baseball match. Now in the States where baseball is well known there would be hundreds if not thousands of people watching such a match but here in The Grove we were able to get a seat on the bench just behind the batter. It was easy to park and just walk down and choose a seat after we bought some hot dogs and icecreams at the canteen.

It was a beautiful evening to be out watching baseball and have no doubt. We were there to barrack for our local team the Pine Hills Lightning. Tonight they were playing against the Indians.

Pine Hills Lightning won resoundingly. They are the ones in yellow and black outfits in case you are wondering! And their team song is ‘Black and Yellow’ by Wiz Khalofa.

Baseball has a whole culture and language but it is worth learning because we have one of the top baseball teams in Australia right here among us. During any pause in the action the DJ swings into action and plays excerpts from his huge range of songs.

In 2011 Pine Hills was the Club of the Year in Australia (combined with MacArthur in Sydney). The club has just had the largest sign-up in Australia for Aussie T-ball for the first sign-up and there is another sign-up to go.

They have the 3rd largest junior club in Australia.

The QLD state team for baseball is the Brisbane Bandits and they were off playing in Adelaide this week. They draw on the best players from the various clubs and at the moment there are 8 or 9 key players from Pine Hills playing with the Bandits.

There also seems to be a steady stream of players who go to the USA into the Professional Leagues. One whose name I recognised is Ryan Battaglia who has gone to the Cleveland Indians.

Do you follow sport? What type of sport do you follow? Do you go into matches in the big stadiums in the city? Or do you go and cheer for your local team at your local sports ground? Maybe you have kids who are playing a sport with a local team.

Think about baseball. We’re lucky to have the field here. I noticed it is called Battersby Field – must be named after someone who has brought a lot of funding for facilities into this area! We’re lucky to have such a top team. We don’t need to burn fuel or pay huge admission fees to watch their matches. It makes a great night out.

Transition The Grove is wanting to support and encourage locals to follow local teams. The major league match times and dates for Pine Hills Lightning Baseball home matches are on the Communty Calendar at [url=http://www.transitionthegrove.org.au][/url]

Maybe we’ll see you there one Friday night or Sunday afternoon soon.