Newport Rams are the premier women’s team of the Baseball Victoria summer league women’s competitions, after claiming their first top flight premiership.
Twelve months after falling short in the grand final in their first season in premier 1 competition, the Rams were able to go one better and claim the premiership this season.
The premiership was the side’s second in three years, with the team having made four straight grand finals across multiple grades.
Rams coach Dean Anglin said it was a great feeling for the club.
“It’s really exciting to see that the start of the program the last five years [has resulted in this],” he said.
“There’s a lot of young girls playing in the seconds and they have a bright future. Hopefully the program is set up for them for the next five to 10 years.”
The Rams faced Doncaster in the grand final on Saturday at Melbourne Ballpark.
Anglin said they had been expecting to face Springvale in the decider, but the minor premiers went out of finals in straight sets.
“It was a bit of a surprise for us,” he said. “We thought it would likely be the best two teams from the regular season in the grand final.
“Doncaster was able to knock them off in an extra innings to get there. We knew that we still had to play at our best and we felt that was competitive no matter who we played.”
Anglin said they didn’t really change their planning for the grand final too much with having to face a different opponent.
It was a really strong all round performance in the grand final by the Rams who won 11-1.
“Th girls hit the bell really well,” he said. “We were able to score some runs early and it makes it a little bit easier.
“You get the opportunity to enjoy the game as well as if you don’t execute something right, it doesn’t have such a big impact.”
The Rams led 2-0 after the first innings with the lead out to 4-1 after three innings. The Rams scored five runs in the fourth innings and two in the fifth to seal the win.
Anglin said pitcher Saeko Suzuki pitched a complete game, while they had a number of contributors with the bat including Ruby Dale.
It wasn’t quite the perfect day for the Rams, with their second side losing its grand final to Springvale.
“They had been undefeated,” Anglin said. “They didn’t have a great day.
“It was the same as last year when we could only get one side to win the grand final.”
Anglin said they would start looking at next season in the next month or so and hopefully lock in visas so their imports can return again.
In the men’s premier 1st nine competition, Williamstown lost its final to Upwey Ftg. It has a second chance on Tuesday night.
