By Paul Pickering
A PAIR of heart-stopping victories has seen the Springvale Lions men’s and women’s teams win through to their respective Baseball Victoria grand finals.
The Lions, who are the three-time defending premiers in the women’s Division One and men’s Division Three competitions, kept the dynasty alive with narrow semi-final victories on Saturday and Sunday at K.H. Wearne Field in Keysborough.
But the weekend didn’t start according to Springvale’s plan, as the ladies conceded three runs to Doncaster in the first inning on Saturday.
Starting pitcher Cat Row was uncharacteristically wayward from the outset, and she received little assistance from her outfielders as a dropped fly-ball sent the Dragons’ third run over the plate.
But when a frustrated Row was replaced by Vic Brown at the mound in the middle of the second dig, the Lions seemed to settle.
In the bottom of the third, Springvale struck back with a succession of lusty blows as five hits yielded four runs.
Another four in the fifth saw the Lions open up a five-run buffer, but the Dragons capitalised on a series of Springvale fielding bungles to tie the game 9-9 in the top of the seventh inning.
But, just as the Springvale faithful have come to expect, the experienced Lions stepped up to deliver the knockout blow.
This time it was catcher Siobhan Taylor who slugged in the winning run on a powerful double to see the Lions advance to the grand final.
And while Springvale head coach Mick Wearne was relieved to progress, he was far from impressed with his team’s performance in the outfield.
“That was the only thing that kept the other team in the game,” he said.
“We were pretty much on top all day and I still felt like we had it covered, but we definitely made some costly errors.”
Similarly, the Lions men struggled to shake off Williamstown in their semi-final on Sunday despite out-batting their opponents 12 hits to three.
With firebrand pitcher Glen Richards feeling slightly off colour, the Lions slumped to a 3-1 deficit in the top of the fifth inning.
But Richards tightened his belt to prevent any further runs in the next two digs before four runs in the sixth and seventh allowed back-up pitcher Rob Hogan to shut the game down with two innings of relief.
So while the 5-3 scoreline was not overly convincing, the Lions will again be red-hot favourites to secure their fourth-straight title at home in the grand final on Saturday 15 March.
Meanwhile, the Springvale women’s seconds will host their own grand final at K.H. Wearne Field from 1.30pm this Saturday.
After having this weekend off, the first division women will play either Doncaster or Werribee in their grand final.
