AUSTRALIA – The Victorian Women’s Baseball Team have retained their title as National Champions for the third consecutive year after defeating New South Wales 15-13 in the Grand Final of the 2009 National Women’s Championships at the Geelong Baseball Centre last Saturday night.

Spectators were treated to three and a half hours of intense baseball action as the perennial rivals battled it out until the very last inning.

New South Wales came out hard scoring 2 runs in the top of the first dig. Victoria retaliated adding 4 runs to the board in the bottom of the same inning, a tit-for-tat that saw a combined 12 runs scored by the bottom of the third inning, and had Victoria in the lead 7-5.

Despite scoring an additional 4 runs between the 4th and 5th, New South Wales could not seem to get ahead in the count, and Victoria entered the sixth with a 14-9 lead over their visitors. While many assumed their fate was sealed, New South Wales – who had fought to sit alongside Victoria at the top of the ladder for most of the tournament – were not going to back down that easily.

They came back to blast another four runs in the top of the ninth inning – and whilst it was enough to rattle their hosts and intensify the game – it was not enough to secure the win- leaving the final score at 15-13.

CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
On the mound for Victoria was Kathy Welsh (3.0 IP), Vic Brown (1.0 IP), Sinead Flanigan (2.0 IP) and Alisa Davidson (1.0 IP). Brown secured the win.

New South Wales saw the combined pitching efforts of Lauren Murphy (2.0 IP), Ellen Young (2.0 IP), Lauren Pollock (1.2 IP) and Claire Manuel (0.1 IP).

Standouts at the Plate for NSW: Angela Catford went 3-for-5 with 3 hits, 3 runs and 3 RBI. Tahnee Lovering went 4-for-5 with 4 hits, 1 run and 2 RBI.

Standouts at the Plate for VIC: Amy McCann went 3-for-4 with 3 hits, 3 runs and 3 RBI. Sam Hamilton went 3-for-4 with 3 hits, 2 runs and 2 RBI.

To round out the Final Standings, Western Australia defeated Queensland 12-1 – ending the game in the sixth inning – and securing third and fourth positions.

Country New South Wales finished in fifth place after defeating Victoria White 12-1 and completing the game in the bottom of the 5th.

The ABF would like to thank the Tournament host – Baseball Victoria – as well as Geelong City Council, Baycats Baseball Club, all Technicals, Officials and Volunteers – as well as spectators ans supporters – for their valued contribution to delivering the 2009 National Women’s Championships.

Courtesy of the Australian Baseball Federation

Tags: Australia