Wests Cardinals added a great exclamation point to their 60th season celebrations with a grand final victory over Berkeley Eagles in Illawarra Baseball.
Cardinals bulldozed aside Eagles 16-3 in Saturday's game two to clinch the best-of-three series, after taking game one 4-1.
Cards lost just two games all season - both to the Eagles - to take their 26th first grade premiership, plus the 2008 minor premiership and club championship treble.
Josh Dean backed up his three hits in game one with three hits and four RBIs in game two, including a towering three-run homer in the seventh inning.
Cards' nine-run seventh ensured an early finish after starting pitcher Blake Handley dominated on the mound, throwing all seven digs and giving up just three earned runs on five hits.
Cards' Australian representative catcher Trent D'Antonio set the tone with a two-out double in the first inning, which led to two runs. He then blasted a two-run homer in the second, as Cards poured on four runs for a 6-0 lead. There was no way back for Eagles.
D'Antonio had four of Wests 16 hits, with Lee Vlasoff and Dean both contributing three hits.
Cardinals won their first of 26 premierships in 1950 - two years after entering the league - and won nine straight titles from 1954 to 1962, plus another six straight from 1977 to '82.
Cardinals coach Jason Fenwick said it was the perfect finish to a memorable season. "Being our 60th year we set ourselves the goal of winning the title, and to play our best game of the season in the grand final was pretty special," Fenwick said.
"This season we've had a lot of our ex-players come back to the club and get involved and watch the current team play. It's great to finish on such a high."
Eagles coach Andrew Coad said the turning point of the grand final series occurred in game one.
"We had a 1-0 lead and their centre-fielder (Chase Richardson) made a great running play and stopped us scoring two runs. Instead of 3-0, it was 1-0 and even though they won the game 4-1 we still gave ourselves a good chance of winning the series."
Coad acknowledged Cardinals hit too well in game two. "Everything they hit went in, found gaps and they kept hitting. A couple of things went against us, but we just couldn't get a foothold in the game."
Both coaches see a positive future for Illawarra baseball but say the competition needs at least one more team.
"We need a sixth team," Fenwick said. "A five-team comp means a bye every fifth week and with washouts there's a lot of Saturdays not playing."
Eagles have won 10 titles since 1988 and been in the grand final since 2000.
"It'd be great to have more strong teams," Coad said. "Berkeley's going to be strong for years to come.
"One of our juniors, Chad Blanch, has already played two seasons in first grade and is just 17. We've a lot of good youngsters ready to take the place of some of the older blokes."
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff