The 2009 Diamond Anniversary Claxton Shield was the 75-year anniversary of the Claxton Shield and was held from 2 December 2008 to 8 February 2009 and was the Shield's Diamondanniversary. The Perth Heat won the tournament after defeating the New South Wales Patriots 3–2 in the third game of a best of three series.
Overview
The 2009 Shield series excluded the Australian Provincial baseball team and consisted of four, three-game series against each team including a two home, two away and a bye round for each of the teams. On top of this to start off the tournament, there was also a showcase round where each team played each other once. To celebrate the 75th anniversary, the showcase round also hosted a variety of other events such as a Home Run Derby. Teams that competed in the 2009 Claxton Shield were the New South Wales Patriots, Queensland Rams, Perth Heat, Victoria Aces and the South Australia.[1]
The competition served as the primary selection trial for the national team to compete in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
The first round of the WBC commenced Mexico City on 8 March 2009, a month after the final round.[2]
The regular season was held from 2 December 2008 through to 18 January 2009, followed by a two-week finals series from 23 January to 8 February 2009. The season started with a showcase round featuring all five teams in a single round-robin series of matches at Blacktown Olympic Park. This was followed by five rounds of home and away games, with each team playing four 3-game series, one against each other team, two at home and two away. As there was an odd number of teams, each team also had a bye round. At the end of the home and away season, the top three teams qualified for the finals series.[4]
WP: T Grattan (1-1) LP: L Hendriks (0-1) Sv: A Angelucci (1) Home runs: Perth: N Kimpton (3), M Kennelly (2), L Dale (3), D White (1) NSW: T Atherton (2), M Holland (1) Attendance: 300 Boxscore
Round 2 notes
^Originally scheduled for 19:00, 12 December at Melbourne Ballpark. Re-scheduled to be first game of a doubleheader (7 innings) after a washout.
^Originally scheduled for 19:00, 12 December. Re-scheduled to be first game of a doubleheader (7 innings) after a washout.
^ abRe-scheduled as a 7 inning game as part of the doubleheader.
WP: T Cox (3-0) LP: P Brassington (0-3) Home runs: SA: None NSW: Attendance:[8]
Round 6
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Championship series
The 2009 Claxton Shield finals series will have the top three teams after regular fixtures qualify. The team who finishes first will auto-qualify for the final where they will meet the winner of the 2nd vs 3rd.
Both semi-finals and finals are best of three series.
Starting pitchers: Aces: A Blackley Patriots: T Cox WP: T Cox (1-0) LP: A Blackley (0-1) Home runs: Aces: 0 Patriots: 2, M Lysaught, S Pender Attendance: 1731[10]
Starting pitchers: Patriots: C Anderson Aces: D Cassidy WP: C Anderson (1-0) LP: D Cassidy (0-1) Sv: W Lundgren 1 Home runs: Patriots: 1, S Pender Aces: 0 Attendance: 154[11]
Starting pitchers: Patriots: C Anderson Heat: L Hendriks WP: C Anderson (2-0) LP: L Hendriks (0-1) Sv: W Lundgren 2 Home runs: Patriots: 0 Heat: 0 Attendance:[12]
Starting pitchers: Patriots: W Lundgren Heat: D Schmidt WP: B Wise (1-0) LP: M Williams (0-1) Sv: W Lundgren 2 Home runs: Patriots: 0 Heat: 1, C House Attendance: 2150[13]
Conditions
Blacktown Baseball Stadium experienced quite warm December summer weather for New South Wales. Although the average maximum temperature is 25 °C (77 °F), most games were above this, with Game 8 of the showcase round between South Australia and Victoria Aces hitting 32 °C (90 °F) during the match.
On 7 December, the temperature dropped to a maximum of 22 °C with a strong breeze over Blacktown as well as clouds, however, no rain fell and the games finished as scheduled.
A large low-pressure system and long periods of rain forced the postponement of both games on 12 December in Altona, Victoria and Canberra. Games the next day were rescheduled to allow for 7-inning double headers. Game 1 between Queensland Rams and Victoria Aces was relocated to Mildura, Victoria where Game 2 and 3 were also being played.[14]