Rangers seeing Stars
Winning run comes to a halt
SEAN TEUMA
BASEBALL: The Toowoomba Rangers’ winning streak came to a sudden halt at the hands of the Southern Stars in the GBL division four.
Riding high on the back of eight-straight victories, the Rangers were brought back down to earth with a 13-3 defeat at Regents Park.
Rangers player Darryl Luchterhand said they were unable to match it on the bats with the home side, who produced their finest performance of the season.
“They had 17 hits to our eight and they swung the bats pretty well,” Luchterhand said.
“Southern Stars pitched really well and we seemed a bit flat in the heat.
“We spoke about it at training, that even though our defence holding teams to just one or two runs of late, the Southern Stars were one of the few teams that had scored more than two when we beat them.
“We knew they would come at us.
“Come finals time, I think they are one of the teams that can cause an upset, and they’re a chance to win it all.”
While it was a tough loss for Toowoomba to take, they still remain in second place on the ladder, two wins behind Wests and a game in front of the Southern Stars in third.
Their first game back on January 12 comes up against the Bulldogs, giving the Rangers
the chance to close the gap between themselves and the top side.
Luchterhand said the break comes at a good time for the club, as they look to refocus heading into 2020.
“Sometimes the time away can be a good thing, he said.
“We’re still going to be around baseball with a Christmas dinner next weekend, which will give us a chance to reflect on the first half of the season.
“It could’ve been a case of us looking too far forward to that Wests game (in January) instead of the team right in front of us.
“Southern Stars play Wests again, so if they can roll them, and we can too, then there’s still a chance for us to snatch the minor premiership.”
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Rangers on their final outing before the Christmas break, with the division five side claiming a 5-3 win over the Southern Stars.
The win helps them close the gap to just half a win behind the fourth-placed side.
sean.teuma@thechronicle.com.au