The game against Stars Ronchi was the first of three games that the Redcoats U15s were scheduled to play on Saturday.

With a limit on the number of innings players were allowed to pitch in a game and in a day, the coaching staff of the Redcoats set out with a plan that would allow them to have both their starting pitchers available for the third game of the day.

Lara Buttigieg was given the nod for her first start of the tournament. She pitched really well but was let down by her defence in the 1st inning. Two costly errors meant that Stars Ronchi took a 0-4 lead. She went on to pitch two scoreless innings.

The Redcoats’ offence started well with both lead-off batter Shaniya Spiteri and Thea Sultana getting on base, followed by Clarissa Camilleri who had a base hit. Although both Shaniya and Thea came around to score, what looked like a very promising inning fizzled away as Lara Buttigieg grounded out to 1st while the next two batters struck out. That was all the scoring that the Redcoats managed all game with seven of the next nine batters striking out in three consecutive 3-up-3-down innings.

Clarissa Camilleri and Courtney Attard pitched the 4th and 5th inning, each allowing four runs to score.

This was a very disappointing offensive performance, with ten strike outs in eighteen at bats. A great outing of starting pitcher Lara Buttigieg was wasted. She did not receive any offensive support in a game that the Redcoats should have done much better than the 2-12 score line.