GEELONG FALLS SHORT AT CHAMPS
GEELONG’S title defence at the Senior Winter Baseball Championships came unstuck at Waurn Ponds yesterday with Ringwood claiming a 2-0 win in the final.
The home side, which won the championship last year, failed to score a run in the decider after being stopped in its tracks by former Major Lea- guer Travis Blackley.
“It was a tough competition with Ringwood,” Geelong coach Lewis Weldon said.
“The guy who pitched in the final for them pitched in the Major League in America, but we showed a lot of good stuff. Just a couple of things didn’t go our way.”
But Weldon said he was pleased with his side's campaign after a 2-1 semi-final win over City earlier in the day booked Geelong’s spot in the final.
“I was pretty happy with how the boys played, did a lot good things, especially being a young side as well,” he said.
“Brock Wells hit well during the whole week. Josh Lee had a day out (yesterday) on the mound. He threw 160 pitches and 12 innings (across the two matches).
“There were a lot of contributions throughout the whole line-up.”
But Ringwood proved the dominant side across the long weekend, going undefeated throughout the tournament to win the Division 1 final.
City was ranked third in the campaign, while Dandenong defeated Mount Gambier, 18-9, in the Division 1 consolation match to finish with fourth place. In Division 2, it was Sunraysia who produced a 7-6 win over North Eastern in a high-scoring battle.