Werribee Giants will head into Saturday’s Baseball Victoria women’s division 2 grand final with a whole lot of confidence.
The Giants, who finished second after the regular season, have all the ingredients to round out their campaign with a premiership.
They are revved up to face third-ranked Melbourne, which eliminated minor premiers Springvale 8-5 in Saturday’s preliminary final.
The Giants beat Springvale 17-3 in the semi final a week earlier, so both sides will go in with good form.
But the Giants should be fresher after their week’s break and they’re ready to sink their teeth into the season decider.
“Everyone is keen,” Giants coach Tony Culph told Star Weekly.
The Giants’ hitting, pitching and fielding departments have been at the top of their game at the right time of the season.
While Culph is keen to emphasise the team work required to get to this point, there is no denying how important starting pitcher Emma Pastowski will be in the grand final.
Known simply as ‘EJ’ around the club, Pastowski has scorched most of the batting line-ups she has faced this summer.
She gave up three runs in the first inning of the semi-final, but then Springvale registered duck egg after duck egg in the runs column.
“If EJ has all the pitches working and we can back her up in the field, it’s a definite asset for us,” Culph said. “She killed Springvale with her curve balls.”
Pastowski is also valuable with the bat, although Nikki Durovic is the Giants’ star in the batters’ box.
Durovic and Phoebe Jakubzic will be the keys at the top of the order, although the Giants are batting deep this season.
If they win, it will be their second title in three seasons.
