WAVERLEY SWEEPS JUNIOR PREMIERSHIPS - 1979
       
  
Melbourne's SUN Easterley Supplement - Thursday 3 May 1979

Contributed by Keith Sheldon-Collins
A famous day in Waverley Baseball Club history when we became the first club to sweep all THREE 
Coca-Coal State Junior Championships, winning the U17, U15 and U13 Premierships in 1979

Keith informs us that it was also the only time that a final was played between teams from the same club and that the under/13 final was played on our main diamond by special request as a curtain raiser to the senior games that day!


Here is a more readable transcript of the article:

Melbourne's SUN Easterly Supplement - Thursday 3 May 1979

A hat-trick for Waverley

Waverley Baseball Club has completed a unique treble by winning each of the Coca-Cola State junior championships. It is the first time one club has won all three titles which are competed for by the winners of the various sectional premierships in the Victorian Baseball Association Junior League. 

The Under 17 Wildcats downed Malvern 3-1 to win the championship and to complete the season undefeated. And the Under 15 Wildcats were successful over Sunshine 7-1. Catcher Matthew Sheldon-Collins won Waverley's junior club championship for his performances with the Under 17s while pitcher Ricky Sharp was the successful Under 15 team's most valuable player. 

Sheldon-Collins has represented Victoria five times in junior ranks and Sharp twice. 

The Under 13 championship was contested by two Waverley teams, the Cougars and the Wildcats, with the Wildcats winning 1-0 in eight innings. It was a contest between two Victorian Under 13 pitchers, Chris Fry, Wildcats, and Mark Fouchet, Cougars. 

Fry made every out, recording 24 strike outs in the eight innings, although he threw 11 walks that the Cougars failed to capitalise on. Fouchet had 18 strike outs but the one walk he threw became the only run of the game, scored on a hit from Simon Sheldon-Collins.

In fact, the Sheldon-Collins family had a hand in four Waverley premierships. Keith Sheldon-Collins who has had 27 years in the game, coached the Under 13 Wildcats and he also played for Waverley's veterans team, "Dads Army" which won the Division 3 North Premiership.

And apart from Matthew and Simon, Tim was a member of the 15 championship team.

Peter Sparkman was the successful Under 15s coach leading the Wildcats to three straight State Championships. He is a 19-year veteran and has led Waverley to the State title every year since it was introduced.