Williamstown Wolves managed a stunning turnaround to gatecrash the Baseball Victoria division 2 play-offs.
Only a month ago, pencils were being sharpened for obituaries on their season, but the Wolves pulled themselves back from the precipice to reach the finals.
Wolves’ player-coach Jarryd Rogers was impressed with the team’s never-say-die attitude.
“We were out of the top four by about three and a half games,” Rogers recalled. “Everyone knew we had to win nearly every game after Christmas, and we almost did.
“There were a few games that we were down by a few runs, and we came back to win knowing how important it was.
“The character the players have shown these last nine games has been perfect. Everyone is pretty damn excited right now; we’re loving it.”
Williamstown booked its place in summer league finals with a comfortable 8-2 win over Port Melbourne on the road on Saturday.
It was the result that meant the Wolves could hold off Doncaster in the race for fourth spot.
“The last month and a half have been a bit of a rollercoaster,” Rogers said. “We were in and then we lost mid-week and thought we were eliminated.
“Then we got back in today with the win.”
Playing one-win Port Melbourne in the last round allowed Williamstown to manage its players.
They held ace pitcher Daniel Chircop out of the game – he’s the scheduled starter for game one of the best-of-three semi-final series against minor premiers Sunshine tonight.
None of the Wolves’ pitchers delivered more than two innings, so all will be fresh for a hectic finals series, which could include six games in two weeks, if they go the distance.
“We didn’t have anyone pitching a long amount of time because we knew we’d most likely have a game this Wednesday,” Rogers said. “Every pitcher only threw two innings, so there was no real stand-out.
“Collectively, all five of our pitchers, they did perfectly.”
Williamstown’s batters did some serious damage, but none more so than Aaron Green and Justin Gourlay.
Green was voted player of the match for his part in sealing the win for the finals place.
The Wolves go into the finals as underdogs because of their fourth ranking, but try telling that to Rogers.
“We expect to win every game with the streak that we’re on now,” Rogers said.
“We feel we’re more likely to win than lose.
“We’re pretty well prepared, and everything has gone our way the last few weeks to get all our pitchers to come back.
“Our preparation has been good and we’re expecting to come out on top two weeks from now.”
In division 1, the Newport Rams closed out their season with a 3-2 loss to Springvale.
The Rams finished fourth in the western conference with eight wins, three draws and 15 losses.
In division 3, Footscray was eliminated in week one of the finals after going down 5-1 to St Kilda.
