Geraldton softball women’s grand final: Midwest Marlins dominate with division one and two championships

The Marlins Softball Club celebrated through the weekend, as their women’s teams took the division one and two premierships in the climax of the Geraldton softball season.

The Marlins won the big division one prize with a shock 18-5 victory over minor premiers the Rams, with Taryn Purcell leading the Marlins from the front and giving a pitching masterclass throughout the game.

Purcell was awarded grand final MVP and was overjoyed by her team’s efforts.

“We are thrilled and still in shock, the games couldn’t have gone any better. We are so proud of all of our players for their performance,” she said.

The Marlins played a solid game throughout the seven innings, with stand-out performances from Zoe Purcell and Miley Gould at bat.

Gould also caught superbly well and kept a level head throughout the game. The Marlins simply batted and fielded at the top of their game and did not allow the Rams any wiggle room at bat or on the field.

Marlins coach Les Purcell was happy and brimming with pride for his team after the big win.

‘What a win, probably the best I have had as a coach given the season we’ve had, we haven’t come close to beating them all season, and we had a couple of key players out for grand final,” he said.

The coach gave praise to his daughters for helping him come up with a game plan that could get them over the line.

“Taz (Taryn), Zoe, and myself have been throwing ideas around all week, and by moving some fielders around, it is one of the things that helped us,” he said.

“Taz was on fire both hitting and pitching, and all the girls batted awesomely, just putting the ball in the right place and fielding beautifully with only a couple of errors.”

The Marlins also took out their fourth division two crown on Friday evening with an impressive 12-7 win over a very strong Suiside team.

Ava Gould pitched a great game, throwing to her mum, Vanessa Gould, who was solid in the catcher’s role. Shakiah Forsyth, Susan Mundy, and Marnie Terhoeve batted a solid game and brought it home for the winners.

The Goulds also had another reason to celebrate on Saturday, with Ava Gould attending her Year 12 ball, with a quick pit stop to pick up her winner’s medal at the softball ground.

Gunduwa impressed everyone in their first season as a club and pulled out an incredible performance to beat the minor premiers Batavia Blaze 12-7 in the division three grand final.

Gunduwa’s Jac Taylor took out the MVP award for the match, but it was a true team performance and a testament to their resilience and toughness that saw the new club walk away with the premiership trophy.