Harper Sercombe
Amid wet weather on the weekend the sun is still shining bright on the Werribee Giants.
The Giants’ first team remains undefeated in Baseball Victoria women’s metro north-west summer league season after the weekend’s round nine matches were abandoned due to wet weather.
The Giant’s second team, which is in the same competition as the firsts, currently has four wins and four losses. The decision to run two sides in the one competition was made late in pre-season, as was the decision to make the ‘white’ team “more competitive” and the ‘blue’ team “focused more on development and the social aspect.”
“We had too many numbers for one team and then we wanted to make sure there was plenty of participation and not too many players sitting on the bench every week, so that was a tough decision that we decided to make but I think it’s been really, really great,” coach of the women’s program Bronwyn Gell said.
“It’s the best decision we’ve made.
“Initially it was a struggle at the start of the season the blue team had some really tough games playing against some really competitive teams but they’re on a winning streak at the moment, so it shows the development and cohesiveness of the program is playing off at the moment.”
The white side has been going from strength to strength, with a massive 158 runs to their name, while only conceding 43, showing their dominance in the competition.
“The girls are on fire at the moment with their batting, it’s a credit to them, they’ve all been working really hard and training really hard,” Gell said.
“They all want to learn and develop, it’s a credit to each and every one of them.
“The way I coach and the way we’re trying to run the program is just to be really aggressive, we’re not watching any strikes over, we’re not really looking for walks, we want to hit the ball hard.
“I think that’s probably showing in the score.”
The goal for the Gell and the Giants will be to have the white team promoted into the premier first competition next year and have a clear firsts and seconds team for the next summer season. With the way the association is set up, each team is made to select a core seven players who can’t move once the season has begun.
“[With sides in separate competitions] you can really reward players for training hard and performing and if they develop late in the season they have opportunities to move up,” Gell said.
“I think that would be the ultimate goal.”
With a bye coming up on the weekend for the white team, its next match will be against the blue team on December 16.
