Werribee’s Daryl George is on the Melbourne Aces roster this season. 58835 Picture: EMILY LANE
BY MICHAEL ESPOSITO
WERRIBEE was promoted to Division One at the start of last year, and just avoided being sent straight back to Division Two.
In some ways, Werribee’s 2010/2011 season could be regarded as a success. One of the biggest challenges in any sport is to survive your first year in a higher grade, and Werribee managed to do so with seven wins, 20 losses and a draw to finish in 10th place.
Coach Earl Byrne said his side was in better shape this year, if only for the fact that the players have experienced Division One, and will go into this season knowing what to expect.
But Werribee did not get off to the ideal start in the opening round of the Summer League on Sunday, going down to highly-fancied side Waverely 11-0.
The Giants suffered several close losses last season, perhaps a reflection of inexperience in the top flight.
“There were a lot of games where we lost by a couple of runs, just because of those lapses that we had,” Byrne said.
“We won seven last year so I want to win 11 or 12 to consolidate that spot, and when we get to 11 or 12 we’ll adjust our goals.”
Werribee has secured the services of Canadian import Dustin Northcott, a right-armed pitcher who has just finished college in Louisiana. Northcott played with Werribee player Jack Lindsay in the US.
He will replace American Brandon Griffin, who pitched for the Giants last year.
Werribee’s star local player, Daryl George, is likely to miss several games for the Giants this year as he has been placed on the Melbourne Aces roster.
George, 18, recently returned from the US where he played with Tampa Bay Devil Rays affiliate the GCL Rays in the Gulf Coast League.
Byrne will also be looking for improvement from young up-and-comers such as Oliver Box and Wade Balzer.
“The one thing out of this year that I want to get is to play the whole nine innings. There would be one inning (last season) where we’d give up four or five runs and then then they wouldn’t score. “
“All the guys have got experience playing first division now, we’re one step better than we were this time last year. I am a little bit more confident because we know what to expect from every team, where last year we weren’t too sure.”
