Victoria started its title defence with a 12-0 win over ACT at the 2022 Australian Women’s Baseball Championship in West Beach, SA.
The defending champions scored a run in each inning to complete a five-inning mercy-rule win before a rematch of the 2019 decider against Western Australia.
GAME CENTRE: Box score and play-by-play
In the first game of Friday's doubleheader, Morgan Doty drove in a game-high four runs and Allie Bebbere did not allow a hit in five strong innings on the mound. Bebbere struck out three and faced just two over the minimum, working with an early lead after a Doty single put the Victorians up 1-0 in the first.
Victoria added five runs in the second on Doty’s RBI-triple and Abbey McLellan's single. They completed the impressive first-up win with a pair of three-run frames, as Lilian Bell-Tanner’s RBI base hit made it 10-0 before Bronwyn Gell added two more with a double – Victoria’s 10th hit of the game.
Victoria followed up the shutout victory with a 12-3 win over Western Australia, overcoming an early 3-0 deficit to secure a 2-0 start to the tournament.
GAME CENTRE: Box score and play-by-play
The defending champions scored six runs in the fourth, starting with Bronwyn Gell's RBI-double to level the score. Abbey Kelly singled to give Victoria its first lead of the game before adding four more runs, including two on singles from Morgan Doty and Allie Bebbere.
Victoria put up two insurance runs in the fifth as Gell finished with five RBIs. Gabby Bevan had a strong relief outing with three strikeouts in 3.66 scoreless innings. Jamie Bastian recorded two strikeouts in the seventh to close out the win.
Victoria has a day off on Saturday before taking on New South Wales from 7pm on Sunday.
The NSW clash will be will be broadcast at baseball.com.au and on baseball.com.au’s YouTube channel.
Live scoring links for all games, along with results, standings and latest news, can be accessed at the #AWBC2022 event hub.