West Warrnambool defeats North Warrnambool Eels in WDCA women's competition

She lives at Elingamite, which is five kilometres out of Cobden, and doesn't let the 40-minute drive stop her being involved in the growing Warrnambool and District women's competition.

"It's a big commitment to come out to this side of the world every week but it's good fun and good people so I don't really mind, it's well worth it," she said.

On top of that, the mentor is striving to give her group the best experience possible this summer.

"I said to the girls at the start of the year, 'if you're not having fun, tell me' because we can change stuff and work with it," she said.

"We're here to have fun and a laugh."

One way Bellman promotes the fun side of the sport is by keeping the talk up in the field.

"I try to keep the girls as loud as they can be and keep them talking and have a bit of joke," she said.

"And with the other team as well - keep it professional as such between the sides - but have a bit of laugh."

Bellman also like to keep things fresh at training and makes sure the group isn't just batting and bowling in the nets the whole time.

"So that's playing a game at the start or end of training, we played tug-of-war with a soccer ball in the middle and you have to throw cricket balls at it to get it to go over the other side," she said.

The Panthers got the chocolates against newcomer North Warrnambool Eels on Sunday at Bushfield. Their 6/160 proved too much for the Eels who registered 3/123.

The fun culture seems to be working a treat with the Panthers consistently having 11 players for matches.

Bellman, a batsman/wicket-keeper, said the group's new players were developing well.

"In the first few weeks of training they came on in leaps and bounds," she said.

"It's an odd sport to pick up because the bowling action is one of the weirdest ones I've seen - it's a hard one to master - so they've done really well."

Teegan Thorpe, Aisha Khalaf, Christie Stephen and Nicole Quilty are the new faces.

The Panthers which were among the competition's inaugural teams last year have also retained many players.

Bellman, who was there last year, is one of the competition's more experienced cricketers. She started when she was about 11 and previously played at Cobden and Nirranda. She has also been involved with the Western Waves representative program.

West Warrnambool training is on Thursday nights at Brauer College from 5.30-7pm for those interested.

Bellman will be among the players at a try-out tomorrow night ahead of a representative game on January 9.

Meanwhile, in the other women's matches Allansford-Panmure defeated Hawkesdale and Nestles beat Brierly-Christ Church.