Ormond Glenhuntly Baseball Club came away with two amazing victories in VSBL Division 3 over the weekend, with both the Firsts and Reserves teams bringing home flags. Congratulations Hunters on a fantastic way to end the season!
Division 3 Firsts: Ormond Glenhuntly Gold 8 v Springvale Lions 2
Ormond Glenhuntly Gold had a huge win in the semi-final against Pakenham and backed that up with a decisive win over Springvale to claim a grand final championship.
The Lions were the runaway favourites in the division, finishing the home and away season with a eight-game buffer on second place but credit to Ormond Gold, the Hunters struck true against some worthy opponents, coming from a 9-10 third placing to claim top honours.
The Lions had scored 111 more runs than their grand final opponents throughout the regular season, giving up just 29 runs in 19 games also which makes the win all that much sweeter for the Hunters.
The first three innings were scoreless but the Hunters eventually broke through, leading 3-0 in the fifth. By the sixth Ormond Glenhuntly Gold was up 5-0, and it was a 7-0 advantage in the seventh.
The eighth inning saw the Lions finally get on the board with just one run, but the Hunters would go on to win 8-2. Both teams battled hard all season long and fought to get to the grand final, with efforts the Lions and the Hunters can be proud of.
Division 3 Reserves: Pakenham Pumas 14 v Ormond Glenhuntly Blue 20
In a fairytale comeback for the ages, the Hunters turned the game around and got a highly-anticipated Division 3 Reserves Championship. Ormond Glenhuntly Club President and Reserves Coach Sam Robinson was overcome with pride after watching his team play their hearts out, leaving everything they had on the field to push through a double-digit deficit to claim the win late in the game.
"I'm speechless," Robinson said. "We were a bit quiet with the bats, and Pakenham had a good pitcher who was throwing really sharp. Our boys were struggling a bit with the bats and a few costly errors gave Pakenham a decent lead."
With the scoreboard sitting at 14-2 in the seventh in favour of the Pumas, the Hunters banded together and staged a one-out rally. "We managed to get three runs on the board and I thought to myself, oh well at least we get another inning. Then we piled on another 12 runs to get ourselves 15-14 in front."
The scoring didn't stop there, with five more runs coming in the final frames as the Hunters kept Pakenham's explosive offense quiet in a stark contrast to the start of the game.
Starter Ben Bull pitched until the sixth inning before handing it over to Rhy Dyball who put in a couple of solid digs. James Pask came onto the mound but his arm was bothering him, and Bull put his hand up to reenter the game for the last innings to win it for Ormond Glenhuntly.
"At the end of the day the game was so amazing because in Reserves baseball it's a two hour game, but with a game going for nine innings it was great to see the guys quiet with the bats early and then bringing it home with the last innings to snatch it," Robinson said.
Pask, Robinson and Bull all had clutch doubles in the game as the Hunters kept stringing hits together. Dylan Cohen came into the game and made solid contact at the plate as well as the winning catch. After losing four grand finals in a row, it was exhilarating for the Hunters to finally snap that streak. "We had a lot of young players who are used to just playing two hour baseball games," Robinson said. "I'm so proud of them because they came back in the seventh, eighth and ninth inning. In a two hour game you're lucky to play six innings, but they hung in there and didn't drop their heads."
Robinson acknowledges the outstanding efforts of Pakenham's pitching to keep the Hunters off the scoreboard for so long, and he says a hard ball popped the Pumas' pitcher in the arm and he seemed to falter a bit after that, which they capitalised on. "Our young players realized what nine innings baseball is all about," Robinson added. "You can be struggling in the first four or five innings and you can still come back and make a defense, that's one of the amazing things about the game."
In his many years of playing and coaching and his third premiership, Robinson says he has never experienced a comeback like that. Having the Firsts win over top seed Springvale was the icing on the cake for a club that wants to make the move to VSBL Division 2. "We've got our depth from young players who have that resolve to stick out a game, and that's why you need in the higher grades," Robinson said. "We want to have a crack in Division 2."
After finishing second in the regular season with a 12-6-1 record, Ormond Glenhuntly's Blue Reserves had to string together a team of eligible players who could make something happen. "We had players that had played too many games in the ones who probably would have been really handy in the twos, so the fact that we managed to pull together a premiership out of a small eligible list is awesome," Robinson said.
In a fairytale comeback for the ages, the Hunters turned the game around and got a highly-anticipated Division 3 Reserves Championship. Ormond Glenhuntly Club President and Reserves Coach Sam Robinson was overcome with pride after watching his team play their hearts out, leaving everything they had on the field to push through a double-digit deficit to claim the win late in the game.
"I'm speechless," Robinson said. "We were a bit quiet with the bats, and Pakenham had a good pitcher who was throwing really sharp. Our boys were struggling a bit with the bats and a few costly errors gave Pakenham a decent lead."
With the scoreboard sitting at 14-2 in the seventh in favour of the Pumas, the Hunters banded together and staged a one-out rally. "We managed to get three runs on the board and I thought to myself, oh well at least we get another inning. Then we piled on another 12 runs to get ourselves 15-14 in front."
The scoring didn't stop there, with five more runs coming in the final frames as the Hunters kept Pakenham's explosive offense quiet in a stark contrast to the start of the game.
Starter Ben Bull pitched until the sixth inning before handing it over to Rhy Dyball who put in a couple of solid digs. James Pask came onto the mound but his arm was bothering him, and Bull put his hand up to reenter the game for the last innings to win it for Ormond Glenhuntly.
"At the end of the day the game was so amazing because in Reserves baseball it's a two hour game, but with a game going for nine innings it was great to see the guys quiet with the bats early and then bringing it home with the last innings to snatch it," Robinson said.
Pask, Robinson and Bull all had clutch doubles in the game as the Hunters kept stringing hits together. Dylan Cohen came into the game and made solid contact at the plate as well as the winning catch. After losing four grand finals in a row, it was exhilarating for the Hunters to finally snap that streak. "We had a lot of young players who are used to just playing two hour baseball games," Robinson said. "I'm so proud of them because they came back in the seventh, eighth and ninth inning. In a two hour game you're lucky to play six innings, but they hung in there and didn't drop their heads."
Robinson acknowledges the outstanding efforts of Pakenham's pitching to keep the Hunters off the scoreboard for so long, and he says a hard ball popped the Pumas' pitcher in the arm and he seemed to falter a bit after that, which they capitalised on. "Our young players realized what nine innings baseball is all about," Robinson added. "You can be struggling in the first four or five innings and you can still come back and make a defense, that's one of the amazing things about the game."
In his many years of playing and coaching and his third premiership, Robinson says he has never experienced a comeback like that. Having the Firsts win over top seed Springvale was the icing on the cake for a club that wants to make the move to VSBL Division 2. "We've got our depth from young players who have that resolve to stick out a game, and that's why you need in the higher grades," Robinson said. "We want to have a crack in Division 2."
After finishing second in the regular season with a 12-6-1 record, Ormond Glenhuntly's Blue Reserves had to string together a team of eligible players who could make something happen. "We had players that had played too many games in the ones who probably would have been really handy in the twos, so the fact that we managed to pull together a premiership out of a small eligible list is awesome," Robinson said.