The Greater Western Warriors will not only be looking to defend their Third Grade title, but will also have a shot for a Second Grade premiership with the Baseball NSW State League Final Series kicking off this week.
In just their third season in the premier competition, the Greater Western Baseball Association is one of four squads with multiple teams in the post-season, securing third place in Second Grade and second place in Third Grade through the regular season.
“It’s a great achievement, but we aren’t happy with just making it, we want to go all the way in both grades,” said Head Coach Jarryd Manuel, “the boys will need to dig even deeper now so that we can get both teams into the Grand Finals, then work on bringing home the wins for both grades.”
“It’s great to have the programme growing in strength each year, but the positive attitude and effort from everyone each week is what I’m most proud of.”
Entering the Second Grade finals for the first time, Greater Western will be in a knock-out final against Ryde Hawks, with both teams taking a win each during the regular season, however, the runs scored by the Warriors in their loss actually gave them the edge on the ladder.
“Last year we were unlucky to miss out on the finals (in Second Grade) with a few too many draws during the regular season. This year we made it in on equal win percentage with Ryde, but will have home team advantage with more runs scored against them head-to-head.”
As the Reigning Champions in Third Grade, the Warriors know what it will take to take out the Premiership, entering the Post-Season in second place as they did last year, behind local rivals Blacktown Workers.
“The boys are pumped to go the distance again in Third Grade, but won’t take anything for granted with the Minor Premiers being the only team that we haven’t scored a win against in the regular season.”
Overall, the Greater Western Baseball Association saw more wins than the previous two years across all grades, and whilst the results didn’t fall the way they would have wanted in First Grade and Under 18s, there is a lot of positivity around the squad.
“It was great to see more locals coming back to Greater Western this year, and it has definitely added to the results,” said Manuel, “we know that the building process is a slow one, but we keep seeing the culture around the squad get stronger and the other results will keep improving over time.”
The Baseball NSW State League Finals will be played at Blacktown International Sports Park, with the Warriors featuring in the 9:00am Third Grade Major Semi Final on Diamond Two, and the 12:30pm Second Grade Minor Semi-Final on Diamond One, this Sunday, 26th February 2022.
“We have had some great support throughout the year when at home, but we would love to see as many of our Greater Western Juniors come out on Sunday to cheer on our Warriors.”