Victorian teams prevailed at the 2021 Australian Senior League Championship in Lismore, with Southern Mariners taking home gold and Eastern Athletics securing a bronze-medal finish.
Southern Mariners are Australian Senior League champions for the second time after topping Macarthur in extra innings on Wednesday night.
Otto Moje drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth and Genevieve Beacom shut the door as the Mariners sealed an 8-7 win in the gold medal game at Albert Park Baseball Complex.
GAME CENTRE: Box score and play-by-play
#ASLC2021 hub: Results, schedule, standings & news
Tyler Ellis sent the contest to the bottom of the seventh after delivering a two-out, two-run double in the top of the inning.
Moje worked around a lead-off walk to keep Macarthur off the board and send the game to extras. He then delivered with the bat in a lengthy at-bat after Beacom reached on a dropped third strike to start the inning.
Beacom retired all three Macarthur hitters she faced in the bottom of the eighth, including two via strikeouts.
Macarthur took the lead on a two-run error in the bottom of the sixth after Blake Gooding’s single levelled the score, but the Mariners had another comeback in them after earlier overturning a 3-0 deficit.
Macarthur started strongly after a two-plus hour rain delay. Starter Adam Bates set the tone, striking out the Mariners in the top of the first. He was handed a lead in the bottom of the second inning after Koby Chesterton singled and scored on a sacrifice fly from Fynn Bannura.
Christopher Fergie singled to start the bottom of the third and scored on an error ahead of Bates making it 3-0 with an RBI-double. Southern threatened in the top of the fourth and put two runners in scoring position. Ryan Williams singled with two out and Ellis doubled, but Bates used his eighth strikeout of the contest to escape the inning.
The Mariners were able to hit the scoreboard an inning later. Charlie Pierson’s single ignited their fifth-inning rally after Beacom started the frame with a walk. Ryan Langworthy’s ground ball pulled the Mariners in one ahead.
Lachlan Smith’s sacrifice fly and a throwing error allowed Joel Poole and Wesley Ka to score and put Southern up 4-3. The Mariners added a fifth run of the frame on a wild pitch, but the game had a few more twists and turns yet.
Earlier, Victoria’s Eastern Athletics rode a strong offensive performance to a 17-4 mercy-rule win over Cronulla in the bronze medal game.
The Athletics rode regular offence to a 17-4 mercy-rule win over Cronulla on diamond one in the first of two medal games on day five. Eastern shrugged off an extra-inning loss to Southern Mariners in Tuesday night’s second semi-final to start strongly. They scored four times in the top of the first to hand starting pitcher Finley Ronalds-Greatbach a handy lead.
GAME CENTRE: Box score and play-by-play
Cronulla pulled back a pair of runs but the Athletics added one in the second and four in the third to take a 9-2 lead.
They capped off the impressive win with an eight-run fifth.
Campbell Every drove in a game-high three RBIs for Eastern. James Squire and Ronalds-Greatbach each had three hits for the Athletics as the team racked up 15 hits total and gave up just four. Ronalds-Greatbach and Evan Maury combined to not give up an earned run on the mound. Maury struck out six in three impressive relief innings after Ronalds-Greatbach punched out four.
Congratulations to Southern Mariners and Eastern Athletics!
Click here for #ASLC2021 results, standings and latest news.
A full public health response is underway after an individual in Victoria tested positive to COVID-19.
The individual, a male in his 30s, recently returned to Australia from overseas and undertook hotel quarantine in South Australia.
He arrived in Victoria and returned to his home in Wollert on 4 May and developed symptoms on 8 May. He got tested yesterday, 10 May, and returned a positive result this morning.
The Department is working with interstate counterparts to determine the likely source of this infection. A list of exposure sites and instructions has been published HERE. Please view these exposure sites and follow the directions if you have been to one of these locations.
There are no changes to restrictions as of now, however the Victorian Government reminds residents to remain vigilant and consider wearing a mask in high-risk indoor settings and practice social distancing and proper sanitation.
If you have any symptoms of COVID-19 – such as fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, chills or sweats, or change in sense of smell or taste – get a test immediately.
Please click HERE to read the full update from the Victorian Government.
To view more COVID-19 resources from the Victorian Government, click HERE.
Baseball Victoria is excited to announce the 2021 Awards Night will be livestreamed on Monday, 17 May at 7:30pm on the Baseball Victoria Facebook page.
The Baseball Victoria Awards Night will celebrate fantastic accomplishments from across the Victorian baseball community and the 2020/21 VSBL season.
“After a successful livestream of the 2020 Baseball Victoria Awards Night last spring, we are looking forward to another excellent celebration of our Victorian baseballers with this online format in partnership with My Sport Live,” Baseball Victoria CEO Kristie Middleton said. “We had a great summer of COVIDsafe baseball and we are excited to acknowledge these achievements. We invite everyone from our baseball community to tune in as we announce the award winners.”
Individual achievement awards will be presented for the top home run hitter, batting average, and ERA across VSBL Division 1, 2, 3 and Women’s Division 1, as well as MVPs for these competitions and Division 4 East, North, West and South.
Winners of the Club Champion, Volunteer of the Year, Coach of the Year, and Umpire of the Year Awards will also be announced.
Baseball Victoria encourages members and their family and friends to tune into the 2021 Awards Night on Facebook. Highlights will be shared across Baseball Victoria social media platforms, including Instagram and the BV TV YouTube Channel.
The Victorian Government has announced further easing of restrictions for businesses, plus updates to electronic record keeping requirements.
From 28 May:
- Density quotients will be removed for outdoor non-seated venues such as recreation facilities, community sport, pools, tourism services and non-seated outdoor entertainment.
- Small-to-medium sized venues can have up to 200 people per space (such as a dining room or band room) without any density limit, provided COVID marshals are on site ensuring all patrons are checking in to each space. These changes will apply for spaces that are 400 sqm or below, larger spaces still need to observe density limits.
- All venues and businesses required to undertake electronic record keeping must use the Victorian Government QR Code Service through the Service Victoria app. This is convenient for Victorians and gives contact tracers access to the best data quickly.
Please click HERE to read the full statement from the Victorian Government and click HERE to learn more about the QR Code Service.
Click HERE to view our COVIDSafe Plans and click HERE to view our frequently asked questions.
We encourage our members to stay in touch with one another and prioritise their mental health. Click HERE for mental health resources.
To view more COVID-19 resources from the Victorian Government, click HERE.
The Victorian Government has opened the third round of funding for the Community Sport Sector COVID-19 Survival Program as part of the Experience Economy Survival Package.
These grants are designed to support community sporting clubs and associations to survive the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and help them reboot, rebound and recover.
In this round, grants of up to $2,500 are available for associations and leagues and grants of up to $1,500 are available for individual clubs and community sporting and active recreation organisations that have not previously received funding from this program.
Clubs that received funding in the first or second round of the package will also automatically receive an additional $750 while leagues and associations funded in the first or second round will receive a further $1,500. No additional application is required from those organisations and payment will be made by June.
Applications close Tuesday, 18 May 2021 at 5:00 PM.
Baseball Victoria encourages clubs to consider this funding opportunity and how it could make a difference during these uncertain times.
Click HERE to learn more about the Community Sport Sector Short-term Survival Package.
For a full list of available grants from Sport and Recreation Victoria and other funding, click HERE.
Applications are open for the next round of funding through the Sport and Recreation Victoria Sporting Club Grants Program. The application deadline has been extended to Tuesday, 11 May 2021.
According to the Sport and Recreation Victoria website, these grants can assist in the purchase of sports uniforms and equipment and be used to improve the capacity and accessibility of Victorian clubs and other community sport and recreation organisations to increase the skills of their coaches, officials and managers.
The program has five funding categories:
Category 1: Uniforms or Equipment
Grants up to $1000 to purchase uniforms or equipment, including first aid equipment, essential for participation.
Category 2: Skill Development
Grants to improve the skills of organisation members by providing training for coaches, officials, administration staff and management committees.
- Up to $2,000 for individual organisations.
- Up to $5,000 for leagues, associations or an organisation that collaborates with multiple organisations to deliver training for a broad range of participants.
Category 3: Organisation Operational Capacity
Grants up to $5000 to improve the operational effectiveness and efficiency of organisations through strategic planning or, to increase community participation through accessible sport and active recreation opportunities such as pilot programs.
Category 4: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Recovery
Grants to provide support to sport and active recreation organisations to be COVIDSafe and assist with return to play costs and initiatives, including:
- Up to $2,000 for community sporting and active recreation clubs.
- Up to $5,000 for leagues and associations affiliated with recognised state sporting associations or state sport and recreation bodies.
Category 5: Community Sport Event Support
- Grants of $2,000 for Victorian sport and active recreation organisations with a payroll of up to $3 million to compensate for irrecoverable costs greater than $2,000 arising directly from the cancellation or postponement of events during the five-day circuit breaker lockdown from 13 to 17 February 2021.
Community organisations delivering sport and active recreation programs anywhere in Victoria may apply, with applications closing Tuesday, 11 May 2021 at 5:00pm or until funding is exhausted.
16 Victorian baseball clubs were successful in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 rounds. Click HERE to view all previous Sporting Club Grant recipients.
Clubs are invited to consider this funding opportunity and how it could make a difference during these uncertain times.
“Coronavirus restrictions had a heavy impact on community sport and that’s why we’re proud to provide this support that opens up a range of opportunities on and off the field for clubs and their members," Minister for Community Sport Ros Spence said. “We want community clubs to come back better than ever and this boost will go a long way towards helping clubs, coaches, athletes and officials get back in the game.”
“I encourage all local clubs to grasp this opportunity and I look forward to seeing even more local participants get their chance to take their sport to a new level.”
Please click HERE to learn more about the Sporting Club Grants Program and apply today on the Sport and Recreation Victoria website.
For a list of available grants from Sport and Recreation Victoria and other organisations, click HERE.
Baseball Victoria is pleased to announce the life membership of Scott Dawes following the BV Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, 20 April 2021.
“We are proud to confer life membership on Scott Dawes in accordance with Article 8 of the Baseball Victoria Constitution,” Baseball Victoria CEO Kristie Middleton said. “This is a fitting recognition of a dedicated player, coach, and administrator who has served our sport for more than 35 years. On behalf of Baseball Victoria, we congratulate Scott and thank him for his contributions to baseball in our state.”
Dawes represented Australia from 1993-1998, including a trip to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He played in all ten seasons of the first incarnation of the ABL with the Waverley/Melbourne Reds and played for Victoria post-ABL until 2002.
The four-time Claxton Shield winner has played/coached at Doncaster, Sunshine, Cheltenham, Waverley, and Greenhills Montmorency. He also coached Victorian State Teams from 2009-2011.
In addition to his on-field efforts, Dawes contributed at the state level as a director, Vice President and Executive Director of Baseball Victoria (2004- 2018). He continued to represent Victorian Baseball on the Baseball and Softball State Centre Committee of Management until 2020.
Dawes has played a valuable role in the development of Victorian players over the past three decades as a charter, club and state coach. His playing career exemplified his determination and skills at the national and international level, and he continued to give back to his beloved sport through coaching and leadership opportunities.
Dawes was excited to hear of his nomination and life membership. “If you had asked me how I think I would feel upon receiving such news, I wouldn’t have said that it would have had as much of an emotional impact on me as it did,” Dawes said. “I feel blessed to have been afforded every opportunity this game has provided me and remain forever thankful to everyone who has supported me over many years, in particular my parents, sister, wife and extended family and friends.”
The Baseball Victoria Annual General Meeting was held on Tuesday, 20 April 2021.
The meeting noted the minutes of the previous meeting from 20 February 2020 and noted the Annual Report for 2019/2020 inclusive of the financial reporting.
Director Joanna O’Connor was re-elected for a second term, with directors Matt Nicol, Amy McCann, and Rob Stanley ratified from their casual vacancy positions to commence their first terms. Director Myles Foreman resigned from his position at the conclusion of the meeting and Baseball Victoria thanked him for his significant contribution as a director and in the role of president.
Baseball Victoria undertook a detailed process to seek and review suitable candidates for the available directors positions, which included the Baseball Victoria’s Nominations Committee establishing the skills necessary for Victorian baseball and interviewing the available candidates before making their appointments.
Immediately following the Annual General Meeting, the directors conducted a meeting of the Board and elected President Meghan Mayman, Vice President Grant Weir, and Finance Director Robert Stanley.
Meghan Mayman is appointed president as the BV Nominations Committee continues the process of reshaping the presidential role. The Directors are taking the opportunity to allow the strategic planning process to be driven by Meghan’s extensive governance experience.
The directors populated the Baseball Victoria Committees including confirming Grant Weir as the chair of the Nominations Committee supported by directors Amy McCann and Joanna O’Connor while the Audit, Risk and Finance Committee will include directors Robert Stanley and Matt Nicol.
Full biographies for each director are available on our website HERE.
On Sunday, 25 April 2021, we acknowledge Anzac Day and the sacrifices of all those who have served our country.
The baseball family will commemorate the ANZAC ceremonies and we confirm that community sport can be conducted before 1pm so long as there is no charge to attend the event. Spectator events are only permitted after 1pm.
There is more information from the Victorian Government on community sport on ANZAC Day. Click HERE for more information to ensure you do the right thing by Anzac Day.
Additional resources on Anzac Day are available from: