Pakenham Pumas claimed their first B1 premiership on Saturday with a come-from-behind 11-5 victory over the Dandenong Angels. Back: Base coach Darren Coates, Simon Ferris, Ricky Wheeler, Travis Hough, Danny Mullett, Tim Evans. Front: Wayne Porter, Red Hunter, Renee Hunter, Shaun Fahy, Stuart Brunton and son, Scott Olding and Jade Hough. Pictures: JARROD POTTER
By JARROD POTTER
PAKENHAM struck their way into their first Dandenong Baseball Association B1 premiership with a 11-5 victory over Dandenong.
The crowd packed into K.A. Wearne Reserve in Springvale, with a hired-in scaffolding rig acting as a makeshift stand behind home plate and people crowding in around the fence-line to watch a fantastic batting display from Pakenham, to capture the pennant.
Pakenham opened strongly with Wayne Porter brought in by a Ricky Wheeler home run in the first innings, before the pair combined again in the third for another two runs.
Dandenong worked their way into the lead in the seventh innings with Jonathan Beech hitting in a homer and Daniel Kendall and Ben Handman brought home by a Warwick Poole double.
The fireworks started for Pakenham the very next innings.
Pitcher Ricky Wheeler hit a ground ball to the Dandenong shortstop and was left short of first base. Travis Hough struck deep left for a double and Daniel Mullett walked to first. Both would advance on a wild pitch before Simon Ferris was struck-out by Dandenong pitcher Rodney Arms.
Then the breakaway moment happened. Tim Evans came to the plate and on a full count of strikes and balls, he swung and clubbed a massive triple out deep to left-field fence to bring in Hough and Mullett and as Evans slid into third, the dynamic of the match shifted the Pumas’ way at 6-5.
Stuart Brunton was next up, his line drive single brought in Evans and the Pumas crept out to a two-run lead.
The lead would only get bigger as the Pumas smashed in another four runs to hammer home the victory – Brunton, Jade Hough, Shaun Fahy and Wayne Porter rounded the bases as the margin blew out to six. Pakenham’s carnage finally came to an end as Mullett hit a flyball out to Dandenong’s shortstop.
The top of the ninth was the start of a victory lap for Pakenham. Ricky Wheeler was dynamite on the pitcher’s mound – he threw down 58 strikes from 103 pitches, throwing out the match unchanged and delivering the final nail in the Dandenong coffin to record three quick outs in the ninth.
When Warwick Poole struck a grounder to Porter, his quick hand-off to Mullett on first base recorded the third and final out of the Angels’ innings and with that, gave the Pumas the championship.
Pakenham coach Travis Hough said it was an amazing turnaround in the course of three years for the club – going from league easy-beats and narrowly avoiding the club folding to gaining two premierships in two years.
“The club was on its knees three years ago,” Hough said. “They had one B12 team and were getting beaten by 25 runs every week.
“It would’ve been easy to pack up and go home then, but the people in and around the club has taken it from being beaten badly every week to a club with three teams, a B2 flag last year and a B1 flag this year, it has been an outstanding effort by everybody and its just fantastic.”
Their batting was impressive throughout the match, but the Pumas couldn’t capitalise on every base-hit, with a few opportunities left on the bases rather than in the scorebook.
“It was a game-long batting effort, and we were capable of it all season, but to put it together in one innings was great,” Hough said.
“We batted pretty well, we left a few runners on, hit a few straight at them,” Hough said.
“Sometimes you get those lucky breaks and sometimes you don’t.
“In that final innings we got a couple of those lucky breaks and we knew if we kept on hitting the ball hard, a few of them will land.”
Hough complimented Wheeler’s brilliant pitching – staying out for all nine innings to generate the outs needed for the Pumas.
“Ricky threw a fantastic game – threw nine, probably didn’t have the stuff he had in the first final, but he still did what he had to do to get the outs,” Hough said.
“Stu (Brunton) was ready to go but we didn’t need him in the end and it was a great job from Wheels.”
It capped off a whirlwind season for the Pumas which had them win the minor premiership with a 12-2-3 record.
The Pumas will hold their AGM and presentation day at the Cardinia Club in the Committee Room on 22 September.
