Ringwood and Dandenong came into the last game of the weekend with four wins and a loss apiece, meaning that although this game was not listed as a final the winner would take the Under 14 Division 1 State Championship.
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Ringwood started the game with the same aggressive batting that they had shown in other games when they got 3 hits in the top of the 1st. Dandenong however were on their game catching a runner stealing 2nd for their first out of the game and then pressuring Ringwood out of the early innings with no runs. Chris Burke looked good starting on the mound for Ringwood but Dandenong applied their own pressure in reply and had bases loaded with one out. Croker's hit to left looked dangerous but Ringwood restricted Dandenong to one run on the play when they tagged the runner going to 3rd and the score stayed at 1-0 to start the 2nd.
McKenzie Salmon of Ringwood continued his form and power with the bat when he started with a hit that bounced over the head of the 3rd baseman. Fierenzi was pitching well for Dandenong throwing a lot of strikes and challenging the Ringwood hitters who were up for whatever he had. Mitchellhill singled and took a base on the throw to home to give the Ringwood batters 2nd and 3rd occupied but Dandenong were again strong in the field and shut them down without scoring. The game looked like it might even out as Ringwood had five hits after 2 innings but were losing 1-0.
In the 3rd innings, Dante Caruso of Dandenong made good contact with a line drive that went straight to the centre fielder, to keep 2 runners in place with 2 out . This was a critical part of what was to come in the match as Dandenong repeatedly put the ball into play and scored twice on errors. With the score at 3-0 Conor Myles batted in another with a workmanlike hit up the middle, then Dandenong scored another on an error to make it 5-0. Burke steadied the Ringwood ship when he struck out the last batter of the dig looking at the outside corner.
Top of the 3rd Innings and Ringwood took something from their pitcher's effort. They forced the issue and scored on an error after Kahui popped up for a hit that landed 2 metres in front of the plate. Salmon then walked and Ringwood were back in it with score at 2-5.
In the bottom of the dig Dandenong showed plenty and loaded the bases again. Liam Evans took the mound for Ringwood to see if he could give his team another opportunity to chip into the 3 run deficit. However, the game started to slip from Ringwood when Dante Caruso scored Trad on an error and Socic came in as well to make it 7-2 in Dandenong's favour. With time running out the pressure was right on Ringwood. Myles of Dandenong hit a line drive to left that rolled through the cones and Dandenong lead by 7. Myles' effort was only a precursor though to the three run home run by Aiden Flynn that slammed the door on the game and secured the Division 1 title blowing the lead out to nine runs with less than 15 minutes to play.
Ben Fierenzi gave way on the mound for Dandenong to much applause after some good pitching. Croker finished for Dandenong, but the game had timed out. Ringwood forced one across the plate to make the final score 12-3 and Dandenong ran out winners of the under 14 State Winter Championship.
It was double celebrations for Dandenong as they also claimed the Division 2 title, winning five of their six matches. Their first match of the carnival against Sunraysia would be the most significant, coming back late in the match to secure a 1 run win. Two more wins against Bendigo and Ringwood on Day 1 had Dandenong on top of Division 2 ladder. Their re-match against Sunraysia on Day 2 was a more comfortable win 10-3. With just two matches remaining this meant Dandenong could not lose top spot. A loss to Ringwood in their fifth match was their only defeat of the weekend and a win over Bendigo in the last game capped of a big weekend for Dandenong.
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