By JARROD POTTER
WHAT is better than winning a state title?
Winning it back-to-back-to-back.
Dandenong Baseball Association (DBA) continued its rampage through the Baseball Victoria State Winter Championships series as this time the under-14s stepped up to make history.
The boys united to steamroll the best of the rest of Victoria in another clinical rampage.
The closest match was the one it had to win to clinch the trophy, a three-run triumph over Ringwood in the second last match of the tournament.
“It was our closest match for the weekend, we ended up winning 7-4,” Hough said. “We were up four nil then they got a few runs back and we got a few more runs and a little bit of a buffer on them, that was the game we brought Charlie (Pierson) in to finish – did what we asked him to do and throw strikes and he delivered.”
Coach Hough praised the efforts of the batters in particular as Jacob Bald launched his way to a monster tally of homers by the end of the tournament.
“Jacob Bald, in our first game he hit three home runs from his three at-bats,” Hough said. “He hit one in the next game and he had five home runs all up for the weekend.
“Josh Ashen batted really well, too, Blake Holding had a great tournament with the bat as well … was probably the strongest hitting line-up I’ve had for the four years I’ve been coaching – made it a lot easier to write the line-up.”
Pierson was Hough’s star pitcher … who came out of left field to impress the coach.
“Charlie Pierson was probably the best performer – someone that I wasn’t expected to be one of the better pitchers, but he was definitely the standout,” Hough said. “Just threw strikes and I say to them, just throw strikes in this tournament as you can’t defend walks.
“Throw strikes, let the other teams hit and we had the best defence.”
It makes it three on the trot for the mighty DBA under-14s, and it can only be a good sign for the higher age groups in years to come with a pool of talent rising through the ranks.
“It makes the job a lot more entertaining when you’ve got so many calibres of kids from so many different clubs – probably one of the best tournaments I’ve been a part of,” Hough said. “I’m already seeing some of the boys from the last couple of years playing in A grade and they’re getting bigger and stronger over the years.”
DBA UNDER-14 STATE CHAMPIONS
Marcus Graham, Matthew West (Berwick), Blake Holding, Rhys Fairweather, Josh Ashen, Ben Campbell, Joshua Tribe (Cheltenham), Balin O’Callaghan (Dingley), Sam Skinner, Kurtis Smith, Marshall Hansen, Jacob Bald (Frankston), Charlie Pierson, Tahj Rousell (Mornington) and Jade Hough (coach).
