While Henare won five of the six points rounds that culled an original field of more than 20 to just six for the Christchurch semifinal and final showdown, Baty had not given herself a show when she went to the Royal Show in Hastings in October in 10th place, with a seemingly near-impossible gap of four points from sixth.
But with third place on the day, and second-place points in the series, she scraped in on a countback of best placings.
In Christchurch, she placed third in the first round, ousting three more favoured opponents, including 2008 world champion Sheree Alabaster, of Taihape, and her 2010 teams champion partner Keryn Herbert, of Te Kuiti.
Baty, whose sole open-class win was at the Hawke's Bay Show's Great Raihania Shears last year, told how the "self-doubt" in Hastings turned to giving it a go because it was the last chance and flying to Christchurch in disbelief, her fare paid by employers Ian and Lilybeth Kirkpatrick.
Fairlie farmer Tony Dobbs has already been guaranteed a place at the championships as one of two blade shearers.
The championships will be held in the ILT Stadium Southland on February 8-11. A record 32 countries have entered.
Shearers and woolhandlers have the chance to be part of the championships, with entries open for the Southland All Nations and Speed Shear events.
The All Nations has been added to the programme to allow those not competing at the championships to be part of the historic event, as well as allow competitors to put the final touches to their championships preparation.
"We have had such great support from the shearing fraternity so our organising committee wanted to make sure there was a chance for as many people as possible to be part of these championships," chairman Tom Wilson said.
Entries were being taken for intermediate, senior and open machine shearing, open blade shearing and senior and open woolhandling.
