Lions take pride on the plate

SPRINGVALE Lions completed a clean sweep of the final round of Baseball Victoria games before the Christmas break, with the men’s division-three side knocking off Port Melbourne and the women’s division-one side defeating Werribee.
The men had a tough time against Port Melbourne, hitting fly ball after fly ball throughout the early innings.
But in the fourth innings the Lions took control, belting six hits for six runs to grab a 6-4 lead.
Port Melbourne changed pitcher for the fifth and the move quickly stemmed the flow of runs and the side found another two runs over the following innings to even the score heading into the eighth.
Matthew Pallant picked up the bat in the eighth and found his way to second base, then a Ben Bartlett bunt moved him to third and Mick Wearne hit the final single to get Pallant home.
Meanwhile the women had a more difficult time than they expected against lowly Werribee, conceding too many runs in their 10-6 victory.
Throughout the season Werribee has provided little challenge for the Big Cats, going down 10-0 and 11-1.
Teams have another week off before the season resumes on 17 January, when the women take on Malvern and the men face Preston the day after.