New South Wales has claimed its sixth Australian Youth Women’s Championship in eight years after overcoming Queensland in the 2019 gold medal game on Saturday.
Rosalie Marcus drove in five runs to help power the red-hot NSW offence to an 11-10 win at Narrabundah Ballpark, Canberra.
New South Wales jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a single from Marcus in the first inning.
Queensland – chasing its first Youth title – responded with a run in the bottom of the first.
Hannah Graham’s groundout drove home a run after Mila Bender and Hannah Marshall singled and executed a double steal to move into scoring position.
NSW hit back in the second and continued to add runs, scoring in each of the opening five frames and six of seven innings for the afternoon.
Olivia Bonnello’s ground-rule double restored a two-run lead ahead of two runs scoring in the third on a Lucy Wallace single.
Queensland scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut into New South Wales’ lead.
Soraya Hamson’s run scoring double and a ground out from Tamika Zamora reduced Queensland’s deficit to three runs.
Marcus added a two-run double in the top of the seventh as NSW pushed its lead out to six with three insurance runs.
They came in handy as Queensland plated five runs in the bottom of the seventh, before falling short.
New South Wales starter Breanna Green impressed on the mound, working six innings and striking out three.
Queensland counterpart Mila Bender finished with five strikeouts.
Earlier, 2018 champions Victoria overturned a six-run deficit against Western Australia to claim the Youth bronze medal.
Lilian Bell-Tanner’s RBI-single in the sixth inning lifted Victoria to a 7-6 victory on Diamond 3.