Tara Murray
Newport Rams premiership dreams remain on track with the side through to a second straight Baseball Victoria summer league women’s division 2 west grand final.
After losing last season’s grand final, the Rams have been focused on getting back to the last day of the season for another tilt at the premiership and earning promotion.
On Saturday, that all became a step closer with a 12-1 win against Essendon in their semi final.
Coach Dean Anglin was thrilled with how they played on the weekend.
“It’s good, that’s two years in a row we’ve made the grand final,” he said.
“It was probably as we expected. They are a good side, but we were in a fairly good position with the strongest team that we had all year.
“We were really confident that we would come away with the win.”
The Rams started well with five runs in the first innings, before another five in the second innings.
The mercy role came into play midway through the fifth innings, with the game ending and the Rams moving through to the grand final.
Anglin said they had some really good hitting from the likes of Morgan Doty and Tayla Wilmot. The Rams hit two doubles and a triple in the first innings to set things up.
Shiori Hoshino was back on the mound for her first game since Australia Day when she injured her glove arm in another good sign for the Rams.
The Rams will face the Springvale Lions in the grand final on Saturday. The Lions claimed the minor premiership, having lost just one game for the season.
Anglin said they are better prepared for this season’s grand final.
“To make the grand final is good, as playing to win a championship is what we play for,” he said.
“Hopefully we’re in a better place, and we won’t get overawed by the situation.
“The girls are another year old and have a bit more maturity. We have a pretty young group with most of them under-20 with a couple of more experienced players.
“We also have a bit more depth. Hopefully we can change the result.”
It was a big weekend for the Rams.
Their men’s second, third and fourth sides all qualified for their respective grand finals.
The club’s division 2 men’s side qualified for finals with a 14-4 win against the Werribee Giants.
They will play a best-of-three semi final series starting this week.
Anglin said it was pretty exciting for the club.
“To have five of our eight teams qualify for finals is really good,” he said. “To have four in the grand finals and the men’s first side still to play, it’s been a really good weekend around our club.”
Williamstown Wolves join the Rams in the division 2 men’s finals after beating Ormond Glenhuntly 10-3.
