Sports Report 

Division Baseball and Softball 

An exceptionally enjoyable day was spent at the Northern Districts Softball facility last Friday, with NHS fielding four teams for the event.  With only a single game each, the Year 7, 8 Baseball teams and the 9/10 Softball team were able to play multiple innings against their opponents. Excitingly each of these teams managed a victory, and will now progress on to Regionals in the coming weeks.

The 9/10 Baseball team made a gallant effort over three separate games on the day, and whilst victory was experienced, this hotly contested group saw Preston High School progressing to the regionals for this year's competition.

All participants on the day are to be commended for their sportspersonship, representing NHS with fairness and then some. Thanks also to the wonderful support of Mrs Dridan, Mr Lethborg and Ms Gogerly in the trials, training and games and Mr Bartholomew for all his work behind the scenes to make this happen. As teams, we are all greatly looking forward to the progression of this year’s season. 

Year 9/10 Northern Regional Cricket success 

The year 9/10 girls cricket team ventured to JC Donath Reserve in search of a regional title which would send them through to compete in the state finals. The girls first up opponent was Diamond Valley who batted well to make 48 off their 10 overs. NHS fielded incredibly well, taking every catch that came to them, with Jada, Phoebe and Acacia taking multiple catches. Indigo, Meg and Ayda made short work of the run chase with passing DV total in 8 overs. The next match was against Melbourne Girls College who had easily won their first game. Acacia, as captain, sent in her first choice bowlers and restricted MGC to 38 runs from their 10 overs. Another relatively easy chase followed with the girls chasing down the target in 7 overs. The final game was against Montmorency who were bowled out for 17 with Eliza and Willow doing most of the damage. The batters chased down the total in 3 overs to allow for an early finish. The girls have proven themselves to be an exceptionally strong team with many players capable of match winning performances on their day. The state finals will be contested in term 4 in Bendigo with the girls being a genuine chance of taking home the title. Well done girls!!!

Mr. Snow

Attending with our Year 9/10 boys and girls Cricket teams was such an enjoyable day. Our boys started the day slowly and just got better as the day progressed. Playing 3x10 over games you needed to bat, bowl and field well to win. After just beating John Fawkner 64-63 by 1 run l wasn’t confident. Isaac Bartley 17, Soul Stewart 22 retired and Finbar Kennedy 18 all made valuable runs. In our second game against Montmorency we made a similar score of 63 - Isaac 18, Soul 19 and Duncan McKie 16 all batted well but our tight swing bowling limited Montmorency to 31 runs. Toby Littlejohn-Sims took 3 wickets and Sam Heaton and Henry Nelson both took a wicket.

We entered the final against Mernda, who had two bigger wins than us in the lead in. We batted first against some very quick bowling. Finbar Kennedy 30 runs and Isaac Bartley - 16 runs showed amazing courage often being hit on the body. They both used the fast bowling pace to advantage cracking boundaries. Duncan McKie added 15 runs taking our total from only 9 shortened overs to 71. Our best score of the day. Mernda started quickly racing to 30 runs. It was to be Lucas Gregory’s day with his dad watching getting Mernda’s top three batsmen out in a single over. Will Doyle as wicketkeeper took some amazing catches and stumpings, especially in the final. Mernda battled bravely to reach a total of 59 but the damage had been done. When under pressure Northcote players played their best - a rare quality which left their confident opposition speechless. The day finished late meaning our photo only consists of students who stayed to clean up and travel on my bus. Sorry to the other students who missed the photo but played so well. 

Mr. Price

VCE Cricket - Regionals

Match 1: Coburg 4/25 off 10 lost to NHS 0/29 off 2 overs Harry Ellis 26*(11)

Match 2: Epping 7/84 off 12 overs lost to NHS 0/87 off 6 overs Harry Ellis 69*(20)

Match 3: Viewbank 5/94 off 12 vs NHS 8/87 off 11. Jack Oldfield 29*(decided in super over)

Senior boys played at Donath Reserve in our Regional competition, after winning Darebin Division. A convincing win first up vs Coburg High. Epping posted a competitive 84 and the target looked tricky but Harry Ellis made light work of it with a brutal 69* averaging 3.5 per ball. 

The main excitement came in what turned out to be a final between the undefeated teams. NHS and a talented Viewbank. Some tight bowling and good fielding had NHS chasing an attainable total. Chasing, the wickets fell consistently and Jack Oldfield, as in the Division game, rescued the batting innings. With an over left a bit of drama ensued with some rules accidentally not being adhered to by Viewbank. A super over was decided to settle the game. Viewbank posted 17 with some impressive sixes and a great outfield catch. Northcote went down to the wire needing 3 off 2 balls, but harshly lost their second wicket (can only lose 2 in a super over) via a run out from a leg side delivery. It was a disappointing for the team, but best that the result was decided by the students on field. 

Mr Medcalf