North Balwyn have claimed the A-grade premiership, defeating Watsonia in a high-scoring grand final at Surrey Park last Saturday.
The Stingers jumped out to an early lead and managed to hold on against a resurgent Watsonia in the final few innings to secure a 10-6 victory.
Winning coach Jeremy Young expressed his pride in the team’s performance.
“Yeah, this one feels awesome,” said Young.
“You don’t get to win these too often. I’ve lost a lot of them,” he said.
The Stingers started strong offensively, with Coach Young emphasising the importance of being aggressive against Watsonia.
“We set the tone, which we’ve been preaching all year, and held ourselves accountable,” he said.
Young highlighted the team’s collective performance as crucial to securing the premiership.
“We finished it off as a collective instead of just relying on certain players,” he said. “That’s how you win these things. You can’t rely on the same 10 or 11 guys every week.”
While it was a team effort, the performances of key players were central to stopping Watsonia.
“Max Saggers, coming in for relief really put the team on his back a little bit,” said Young.
“He hadn’t pitched in a firsts game all year until the playoffs, so really commend him on his efforts and his competitiveness. It was awesome.”
Young noted that, particularly after the challenges of previous years, this victory was especially meaningful for the Stingers.
“This group has been together for about 10 years now, chasing this,” he said.
“We’ve been runners-up and lost in a lot of prelims and stuff, so it means a lot to the older group and the young guys who helped us out.”
Congratulations to Jeremy and the entire North Balwyn club on this outstanding achievement!
Congratulations and commiserations also to Watsonia for a competitive grand final and an excellent season.
