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WILLIAMSTOWN Wolves made no secret of the fact they built a team that would compete in March.
Wolves first-year coach Dean Marnell was adamant that no matter where his side was ranked in the finals, it would be the best equipped for a gruelling three-games-in-a-week series.
True to their word, the Wolves pounced on the premiership from second, overcoming the experienced and battle-hardened Mulgrave Rebels two games to one in the best-of-three grand final.
The reason for the Wolves’ optimism was a pitching rotation to die for.
They had up to eight players they could rely on to throw substantial innings in the first team.
In the third and deciding game, the duties were shared between starter Jason Lester and relief Josh Lee, while on the other side of the coin, a tired Rebels import Mike McGillivray was forced to churn out a fourth start in under two weeks.
“We’re blessed in this competition to have the pitching depth that we’ve got,” Wolves playing president Ryan Camov told the Weekly.
“We’ve got six guys who could’ve started a game for us in the finals and another one or two in the seconds who have developed incredibly well this year who could have gotten up there. We always felt confident going into a three-game series that our pitching depth was going to be something that would get us across the line, and it showed today.”
The Wolves claim to be one of the most unified clubs in the competition and that can’t be underestimated when assessing the foundation of this division 2 premiership.
They received the club championship award at the Baseball Victoria night of nights on Friday.
“It’s one of those things where everyone in the club can feel a part of it, and in every way they are,” Camov said. “They all contributed to it from players through to volunteers and everyone. It’s a really good award to win; we were rapt.”
It was a one-in, all-in, celebration.
“When Josh got that final out, there was 30 blokes in the middle of the field who all felt a sense of ownership on the win today,” Camov said. “It was a huge win for the club, not just the first nine but all the guys who’ve been part of the club this year.”
The Wolves’ destination in 2014 is still to be determined.
The governing body, Baseball Victoria, indicated at its awards night that changes will be made to the league structure from next season, subject to club approval.
Plans will be outlined to the clubs this week.
