Avengers eye title
THE Avengers and the Pirates will both be looking to make history with their first championship in tomorrow’s Townsville Baseball senior grand final at Jabiru Park, Condon.
Last year’s grand finalists Avengers finished this season as the minor premiers with a 16- 3 record, but two of those losses came against the Pirates, who have shown they don’t mind the underdogs tag.
The Pirates were only new to the competition this year, but they booked their spot in the decider with a come- from- behind 14- 13 win over four- time premiers the Jethawks.
The grand final will be a full nineinning game and Avengers player Troy Tucker said his side was prepared for another close contest.
“It’s been a really, really hardfought season this year,” he said.
“We can score a few runs, but our focus is to stop Pirates scoring the runs.
“We’ve got a pretty good defensive side with pitching and a pretty welldrilled team.”
Pirates player Trent Small said the team had already exceeded expectations in their first season and they were ready to throw caution to the wind in the grand final. “Just to get to the grand final was a bit of an effort, but we’ve just got to back each other up,” he said.
“I think that’s one thing that we do really well.
“The Avengers were the minor premiers and they deserve to be, but we’re really keen to go out and give it a bit of a shake.” Small had a 20- year break from baseball before helping form the Pirates this season and he said it felt great to be back out on the field.
“I just love the game. Once it’s in your blood it’s there to stay,” he said.
Tucker is a stalwart of Townsville baseball, but he said he’d be ready to call time with an Avengers this year.
“I promised my wife that I’ll be retiring if we win this weekend so she’s really cheering for us,” he said.
Tomorrow’s grand final action starts at 9am with the B- grade decider between Stealers and Razorbacks followed by the senior game at 11.30am. victory