Tara Murray
It was a mixed day for the Newport Rams as they claimed one Baseball Victoria women’s summer league premiership and fell just short of another.
The Rams had both their premier women’s and premier reserves women’s teams in grand finals, in their first time at this level.
The premier side faced minor premiers Springvale, which they had yet to beat this season.
There wasn’t much between the two sides on Saturday in the grand final, but the Rams fell just short, losing 2-0.
Rams coach Dean Anglin said they gave it everything but ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
“There were only two runs that came in the first innings which came due to a walk and hit by pitch,” he said.
“It was a competitive game and there was great defence and great pitching and we were on the losing end though.”
Anglin said they were proud of what the group had been able to achieve in their first season at this level.
“To be able to make a grand final, it’s a reflection of the season, not the game,” he said.
“There’s been huge positives for the whole program, not just one side.
“The depth in the ones and twos and we have such a young group of players coming through.
“We had six juniors in the seconds in the starting nine. That’s six players under-18, which is great for the future.”
While the premier side just missed out, the reserves side was able to come away with the premiership, smashing Doncaster, 14-0.
Anglin said it was exciting to see them achieve that.
“We thought we would come out on top and were confident that we could do it.
“To beat Doncaster 14-0 is good reflection of how well we were hitting.
“Paula Doherty pitched almost a complete perfect game. She missed out due to pitching restrictions.”
Anglin said while the season has just ended, the hard work hasn’t finished.
He said they still want to grow the program even further.
“We have a winter academy every year,” he said. “It’s about teaching more of the fundamentals and not worrying about games.
“We have that for eight to 10 weeks. We’ve grown from two to three sides this year hopefully to four next year and there’s more avenues for the girls to play.
“There’s a couple of younger girls in our junior program that age out into women’s so hopefully they come and the depth is there for years to come.”
The Rams’ premier league minor men’s side had a disappointing end to their season on Saturday.
The Rams faced Malvern in a best-of-three semi final series.
Malvern won the first game 2-1 on Wednesday night, before securing a grand final spot with a massive 18-0 win on Saturday, to seal the semi final series, 2-0.
