By Lance Jenkinson
Sunday’s shut-out victory could be a turning point in the season for Williamstown Wolves in the Baseball Victoria Summer League division 2.
The Wolves blanked Malvern Braves 7-0 in a dominant performance at Greenwich Reserve to claim their first series win of the season.
While the Wolves are still a long way out of the top four, they will go in as favourites in a three-game series against one-win Bonbeach
St Chads Bluejays before the Christmas break and it could be the impetus for them to charge up the ladder.
“We really feel it could be a bit of a turning point,” Wolves playing president Daniel Chircop said.
“Our team is starting to shore up.
“We have a lot of guys back from holiday and injury, so they’re definitely helping the line-up.
“We were confident coming into today.”
Williamstown’s first shut-out of the season came courtesy of a masterpiece from import pitcher Dennis Neal.
Neal, an Oakland native and former college and independent professional baseballer from the US, was impassable for eight superb innings.
“He played an incredible game today,” Chircop said.
“He didn’t give our opponents a chance to settle in the box, really kept them off balance well and was really dominant.”
Photo Gallery: Williamstown Wolves vs Malvern
Williamstown’s defence was at its best to have Neal’s back.
Jason McDonald called a strong game from behind the plate as catcher.
New recruit Jayde Thorne, a South African international player, was impressive at shortstop.
“We only acquired him [from Newport Rams] this week,” Chircop said.
“He played shortstop and made some incredible plays that we’ve been missing defensively.”
It was a day to remember for Chircop too.
He produced three hits and a first home run at the level.
“That was really cool,” he said before deflecting attention to a teammate.
That teammate, Justin Gourlay, also hit a home run.
But Chircop praised the line-up one through nine for their selflessness.
“The bats were well and truly firing from top to bottom,” he said.
“We really manufactured runs as a team.
“Our hitting fundamentals were really good: getting runners on, moving them over, scoring on a sac fly or a ground ball, sacrificing the out in the box to get a runner over the line little by little was how to put up all the runs today.”
Meanwhile, Newport Rams suffered their first series loss of the season, going down 6-3 to Werribee Giants in the third contest between the sides at KC White Reserve on Sunday.
The Rams moved a place back to third and are now two games off top spot.
They will square off with Cheltenham Rustlers in a three-game series.
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