NSW Country claimed a hard-fought 16-11 grand final victory today over the home side in the Tamworth Baseball June Carnival.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It was the first time since 2019 that the Tamworth team had qualified for the final, which they did after winning four from five round matches over the course of the weekend.
"It's great. Great for Tamworth, great for our clubs and our players to achieve this result. It's excellent," Tamworth Baseball president, Dave McMurray, said.
"But even though they didn't win, the fact that they've got to here is cause for celebration as well."
Also read:
The NSW Country side enjoyed a sliver of support from the sizeable and very vocal crowd through the two Tamworth-based players in its ranks, John and Noah Warren.
To play in front of a home crowd against many of their local teammates, John said, was "really cool", but came with increased expectation.
"You always do [feel the pressure]," he said.
"It's my home town, I know all those guys, and they were chirping away a bit.
"Tamworth played really well. They played above their weight and acquitted themselves really well."
The match began in competitive fashion, as Tamworth got out to an early lead after the first three innings, 7-6.
They were batting well against Country's strong pitching outfit, but faded later in the game due to what coach Andrew Ferris said was "a little bit of fatigue".
However, they stood up at the end of the game and showed they weren't out of it despite being down 16-7, and scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth off John's pitching.
"That's credit to all the players," Ferris said.
"Guys in the bottom of the last innings were stretching out their legs, trying to save a last at-bat. The guys really dug deep and we were really showing up for each other."
Ahead of their journey to Europe, where they will compete in the Prague Baseball Week, a win in the June Carnival was a great confidence boost to the NSW Country players and sends them off in top form.
"It puts us in a good spot," John said.
"Where we're going is going to be tougher ... the Prague Baseball week will be a step above.
"[The win] helps the guys, and they'll learn something from this as well."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark northerndailyleader.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News