The Southern Mariners are the 2015 Little League State Champions, defeating Yarra Rangers 9-6 in the Final held at Jells Park, Glen Waverley.
Having won their first four games the Mariners' place in Sunday's Final was guaranteed at the end of Saturday but their opponent would be decided in the last of the preliminary rounds. Yarra Rangers and Northern Diamondbacks were both 3 wins and 1 loss when the two teams met Sunday morning with the winner to meet Southern Mariners in the afternoon. The Rangers prevailed 6-4 over the Diamondbacks and qualified for the decider.
In the Final the Yarra Rangers scored two runs in the first innings to take an early lead and kept Southern Mariners scoreless until the third inning. The Mariners batted in seven runs to take a five run lead half way through the game and have one hand on the trophy. The lead would increase to seven runs by the Mariners before a late rally by Yarra Rangers scoring four runs late in the game but the Mariners would close out the game to record a 9-6 victory.
Both the Southern Mariners and Yarra Rangers progress to the Little League National Championships to be held at Lismore, NSW in June 2015. They will be joined by third placed Northern Diamondbacks. The winner of the Little League National Championships will progress to the Little League World Series at Williamsport, PA in August 2015.
The final standings for the 2015 Little League State Championships are:
TEAM | P | W | L | F | A | PTS | |
1 | Southern Mariners | 5 | 5 | 0 | 70 | 30 | 10 |
2 | Yarra Rangers | 5 | 4 | 1 | 64 | 42 | 8 |
3 | Northern D'backs | 5 | 3 | 2 | 56 | 56 | 6 |
4 | Eastern Rays | 5 | 2 | 3 | 60 | 64 | 4 |
5 | Sunraysia Giants | 5 | 1 | 4 | 46 | 48 | 2 |
6 | Western Mets | 5 | 0 | 5 | 38 | 94 | 0 |
For the first time Baseball Victoria ran a Little League Development Cup providing five additional teams the opportunity to play representative baseball. The Northern Diamondbacks finished with the best record in the Little League Development Cup of 3 wins and 1 tie to be crowned the inaugural champions. The final standings of the Little League Development Cup were:
TEAM | P | W | L | D | F | A | PTS | |
1 | Northern D'backs | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 50 | 31 | 7 |
2 | Eastern Rays | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 52 | 37 | 6 |
3 | Southern Mariners | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 50 | 43 | 4 |
4 | Yarra Rangers | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 56 | 46 | 3 |
5 | Western Mets | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 25 | 76 | 0 |
Baseball Victoria would like to acknowledge all the coaches, managers, scorers, executive officers and parents who gave up their time to get their respective teams to the 2015 Little League State Championships. Thanks also to the umpires who officiated matches over the three days of the Little League State Championships.