Bellarine Bears have taken out the Geelong Baseball Association Division 1 title with a 12 to 9 victory against Guild Lions.
The grand final was played at Geelong Baseball Centre in Waurn Ponds on Saturday September 9 and the Bears prevailed in a see-sawing game.
The Bears’ bullpen was superb throughout the game even though both sides had their offences going.
At one stage the Lions were 5-4 up in the fourth and had 11 hits to the Bears’ one.
Bears coach Chris Barker said the game could have gotten away from them early.
“They came out of the blocks pretty quickly and were outplaying us but we were still in the game,” he said.
However, the Bears changed the momentum with a five-run inning at the bottom of the sixth to take a 10-7 lead.
Josh Crotty started for the Bears while Paddy Brackley, Brock Wells and Chris Hockey provided superb relief.
The Bears got what Barker described as “insurance runs” in the bottom of the eighth and then closed out the game in the top of the ninth, eliminating the need for the Bears to bat again.
The Bears collected 11 hits for the game while the Lions had 14.
Barker said his bullpen had been consistent all season and that the success of the club could be attributed in part to its T-Ball junior program.
“We’ve been lucky all year to have a number of pitchers to be able to rotate them all season,” he said.
Barker said players and supporters were elated at the final result.
“Absolute elation for the players but probably relief for me,” he said.
“The team we had was pretty strong all year and to get it done was fantastic. There’s a lot of talented players in that group and they were pretty easy to coach.”
