Guild in heart stopper
WHILE the disappointment of a 6-5 grand final loss will be palpable down Wallington way — after the Bears constructed a magnificent season and held a lead at three different stages of the final — this was truly one for the ages, as both clubs were fully extended and showed great heart under enormous pressure.
Starters Brad Egan (Guild) and Josh Crotty (Bellarine) were dominant early on, although the Bears had their opportunities while the Lions could muster just one hit into the bottom of four, when it all threatened to unravel for Bellarine.
After a walk, a HPB and a wild pitch, a James Renouf bleeder scored a first run for Guild — although the damage could have been far greater were it not for a timely double play with bags loaded.
After plating two unearned runs to gain the lead in the top of six, the Bears were again under pressure when Guild landed two runners on base and teenager reliever Lachlan Hockey struggled momentarily — conceding the equaliser on a sacrifice fly and loading the bases on a walk that drew Simon Murry into the fray to mop up.
While the Bears again edged ahead in the top of seven, Guild responded with two in the bottom of the eighth, on a run-scoring walk to Jordan Lekkas and a twoout RBI single by Jarryd Wood.
True to their form all day, though, a never-say-die Bears outfit hit back to draw level in the top of nine and force the game into extra innings.
After scoreless 10th and 11th frames, Bellarine converted a leadoff Murry single to again edge ahead in the 12th and give themselves a chance to break their 22-year premiership drought.
However, the Lions clearly had another agenda, with Lekkas and Jarryd Wood hitting safely before some effective small ball generated a first run, followed by a Ryan Stewart sacrifice for the goahead.
“It was just a fantastic game of baseball,” said Guild manager Jason Peoples. “We have had some great battles with Bellarine this season and this one was really a toss of a coin.”
“Both sides deserved to win, although obviously only one can. Bellarine just kept coming at us and there were never any breaks for either side. It was an incredible game.”
“We played short ball pretty well when we had to today, but both sides had their chances and fortunately for us we were ahead when it mattered.”
Paying credit to pitchers on both sides for their work, Peoples made special mention of 39 yearold Brad Egan, who has started in seven A Grade winning Grand Finals in Geelong Baseball Association — six with Guild and one with East Belmont Saints.
“Brad has been just amazing for us,” Peoples said, “and he has to be regarded as one of the best ever in this league. We are just rapt that he is a part of the Guild family — for that is what we pride ourselves on being.
“Everyone gets along so well, whether they have been here for a year or 20 years — like a few of us have.”
“We just stick together — like family — and that is what makes days like this so important to us.”
The tightness of the contest to which Jason Peoples alluded is reflected in statistics coming out of the game, which saw each club amass 12 hits — among the more prominent being Guild players Jarryd Wood (three hits and an RBI), Troy Snarey (two hits) and Chris Durston (two hits), while Wayne Visser, Lewis Weldon, Matt Sage and Jack Auld all hit safely twice for the Bears.
Whiffing six over six innings for no earned runs, Egan had outstanding back-up in Andy Radevski — whose six innings were delivered in a pressurecooker situation — while Bellarine gave itself a real chance through the heroics of Josh Crotty and Simon Murry, who came off a complete-game outing in the Preliminary Final to show typical strength of character to keep his club in the contest.