Sunshine Coast coach Ashley Renouf has hailed the team’s efforts after they won the Queensland first grade competition in their first attempt.
The Scorchers stunned minor premiers Gold Coast by five wickets in their grand-final at Robina on Sunday to claim the Katherine Raymont Shield.
It capped a stunning campaign for the Buderim-based team.
“To come out in the grand final and show the competition and everybody that they can actually do it is awesome,” Renouf said.
The Scorchers shocked almost everyone with their charge to the title.
“I said (at the start of the season) the girls could make semi-finals but did not believe they could make the grand final or win it,” he said.
“About three weeks ago I thought we were a fair shot of making the grand-final, but to win it is unbelievable.”
The Scorchers failed to win a game in their first six rounds but won their last seven matches to swoop.
“They’ve grown so much this year,” Renouf said.
“They’ve just learned so much since they were smacked by Valley in the first couple of weeks (a 101-run loss in Round 6).”
Renouf believed they can be a powerhouse for seasons to come.
“We’ve got a really young group, so it is only going to get stronger as they get older and wiser.”
“There’s a lot of growth there. There’s still heaps to learn and if they want to, they could be a dominant force in the next few years.
“But I’m not going to get ahead of ourselves. It’s just fantastic to win a grand-final.”
He said it was a particularly strong effort given the lack of representative players in the squad.
“We haven’t got any contracted state players and every team we came up against did have state players,” he said.
“But we’ve shown that we can play the game.”
He expected several squad members to have caught the eyes of national league team selectors.
“Lucy Hamilton, Grace Collins and Taylor Stumer are ones to watch and then you’ve got players like Mikayla Wrigley and Ruby Orchard.”
“If they want to be at that next level, they can do that, they’re fantastic players.”
The Scorchers finished the regular season in third place on an eight-team ladder before defeating Wests and the Gold Coast in finals.
The Scorchers claimed the key wicket of opener Georgia Redmayne (41), to kick-start their charge in the decider.
“She has been scoring 90s and 100s for Queensland, but we sent them in to bat and backed our bowling ability,” Renouf said.
Help keep independent and fair Sunshine Coast news and sport coming by subscribing to our free daily news feed. All it requires is your name and email. See SUBSCRIBE at the top of this article
“When we got her, we put the brakes on. The bowlers did a fantastic job.”
Zoe Valencic took 2-28, including the wicket of Redmayne, in her 10 overs while Orchard snared 2/25 from 10 and Tarah Staines snared 2/6 from 3.
“Our bowling and fielding have been pretty top notch during the last seven weeks,” Renouf said.
“No team has scored more than 180 on us and there were some cracking catches in the final.”
The Scorchers restricted the Gold Coast to 9/178 from their 50 overs before reeling in the target with five wickets to spare in 42 overs.
Lucy Hamilton’s unbeaten 57 off 73 balls proved valuable and she claimed the Julia Price Medal as the player of the final.
The Scorchers previously had success in the state’s second tier and this year fielded strong teams in both divisions.
SCORECARD
GOLD COAST
G Redmayne c Stumer b Valencic 41 (32)
T Wheeler b Valencic 29 (72)
C Fuller LBW Orchard 16 (44)
G Parsons st Wrigley b Orchard 21 (37)
T Broucek LBW Staines 5 (24)
D Glennie c Orchard b Staines 0 (3)
E Flynn b Hamilton 3 (13)
M Mayers c Mccord b Briggs 7 (24)
O Voss not out 30 (42)
E Fernleigh run out 0 (1)
Extras: 23
TOTAL: 9/178 (20 overs)
Fall of wickets: 64 (G Redmayne) 86 (TA Wheeler) 100 (C Fuller) 128 (T Broucek) 128 (D Glennie) 133 (G Parsons) 133 (E Flynn) 165 (M Mayers) 167 (E Fernleigh)
Bowling: Hamilton 10-0-44-1, Briggs 7-1-31-1, Valencic 10-1-28-2, Ryall 10-1-41-0, Orchard 10-3-25-2, Staines 3-0-6-2.
SUNSHINE COAST
M Wrigley st Redmayne b Fernleigh 34 (75)
T Staines c Wheeler b Parsons 37 (42)
C Lutz run out Parsons 1 (5)
E McCord b Fuller 7 (15)
L Hamilton not out 57 (73)
G Collins c Redmayne b Fuller 27 (40)
T Stumer not out 0 (3)
Extras: 18
TOTAL: 181 (42 overs)
Fall of wickets: 68 (Staines) 70 (Lutz) 83 (Wrigley) 108 (Mccord) 170 (Collins)
Bowling: Voss 8-1-22-0, Thomson 7-0-29-0, Fuller 9-0-43-2, Flynn 7-2-37-0, Parsons 9-1-37-1, Fernleigh 2-0-12-1.
RESULT: Sunshine Coast won by five wickets.
