ABL Week 4 Wrap

James Lane

Round 4 delivered us a Sydney team that can’t stop winning, and a wonderfully unpredictable Bandits-Giants matchup. For Perth, it was the nightmare continuation of a slump that’s risks becoming outright alarming.

Sydney’s second straight sweep came on the road in Perth, and extends their winning streak to nine, equalling the franchise record. Meanwhile, Adelaide and Brisbane traded blows all weekend in a 2-2 split that saw no change in the standings.

Blue Sox Dominant in Perth

Whatever the story of this ABL season becomes, everything is currently orbiting the Sydney Blue Sox. They travelled west this week and swept a Heat side that admittedly sat at a mediocre 4-6 coming into the weekend.

Thursday: 4-3 Blue Sox

Perth struck first in the opening inning, but Sydney flipped it quickly to lead 2–1 after two. The game then froze until the sixth, when the Sox nudged ahead 4–2 and kept just enough distance to secure the opener.

Friday: 5-3 Blue Sox

Same script, same outcome. Perth landed the opening blow; Sydney absorbed it and answered harder. The Sox’ timely hitting once again separated the teams late.

Saturday Game One: 8-0 Blue Sox

The most dominant performance of the series. Sydney cruised from start to finish, pushing the margin out with a four-run seventh inning. Perth never mounted resistance, and never even threatened to.

Saturday Game Two: 5-1 Blue Sox

The Heat scored first (again), led into the fourth, and lost (again). Sydney controlled the game from the moment they took a 2–1 lead and kept stretching it out. This win made it nine straight for the Blue Sox, tying the longest streak in franchise history.

A Tale of Balance in Adelaide

While the Blue Sox were rewriting their own history, the Bandits and Giants spent the weekend rewriting each other’s momentum, handing out punches in alternating bursts.

Friday: 6-1 Giants

A methodical Adelaide performance. They built a 2–0 edge by the sixth inning, and broke the game open with three more in the seventh as Brisbane’s lone eighth-inning run came far too late.

Saturday Game One: 4-3 Bandits

Brisbane hit first in the second inning and held small but sturdy leads across the middle frames. Adelaide kept chipping away: 3–1 became 3–2, but the Bandits kept them at arm’s length to level the series.

Saturday Game Two: 2-1 Giants

A classic ABL low-scoring duel. Neither team scored until the seventh, when Adelaide finally broke the deadlock and held firm.

Sunday: 11-8 Bandits

Easily the wildest game of the round. Brisbane burst out with three runs in the first, only for Adelaide to storm back with a six-run fifth to lead 6–3. The Bandits answered immediately, retaking the lead 7–6 after the sixth and ballooning it to 10–6 in the seventh. Adelaide cut into it with a 2–1 ninth, but the comeback fell short.

Looking Ahead

With all games played this week and three earlier postponements still hanging in the air, the standings now look like this:

1. Blue Sox: 12–3

2. Bandits: 7–8

3. Giants: 6–8

4. Heat: 4–10

Sydney have established a commanding lead at the top, Perth risk being cut adrift, and Brisbane and Adelaide continue to jostle for second.

Next week sees a repeat of this round's matchups, only on the opposite sides of the country:

Perth now have to travel to Sydney, right after being swept at home. They'll be desperate for some sort of redemption, while the Blue Sox are no doubt already greedily eyeing the potential of extending their win streak to a franchise-record 13 games.

Meanwhile, Adelaide head to Brisbane, facing a Bandits team that just proved they can out-hit the Giants when the game opens up.