Berwick’s finals hopes lost

By Gavin Staindl
WITH Saturday’s 5-0 loss to Bonbeach, Berwick City is no longer in contention to make the Division Two baseball finals.
Division Two’s most improved club needed to win last week at Bonbeach to keep its finals ambitions alive but a costly two weeks came to a head on Saturday as Berwick watched its season slip away.
It was in the seventh innings when Berwick trailed 1-0 that Bonbeach scored four game-defining runs from walks and past balls.
Replacing starter Matt Rossman on the mound was John Beech who gave up three runs before errant pitching by Matt Kennedy walked in the final run.
It was painful to watch for Berwick coach Mick Poole who with every past ball and walked batter felt his side’s season slip away.
“It was a pretty empty feeling watching all the past balls and walks in one inning… I didn’t count but there must have been at least four in total,” Poole said.
Berwick sits two games outside of the top four and with one round remaining, Poole cannot help but look back at blown opportunities throughout the year.
The team that lost the opening three games then rattled off 13 wins from 16 games but last week let slip an 8-1 lead to lose 8-13 to Melbourne then backed it up by losing four days later to heavy underdogs Moorabbin.
“You look back on those games (Moorabbin and Melbourne) and you think we should have won those… it is pretty disappointing.
“But everyone is pretty positive and we really, really want to win next week (against Williamstown) and finish on a high,” Poole said.