BV School Holiday Camps are back for the Easter break, and this time, we are going regional!

Our regional baseball camps will cater to 11-17-year-olds who want to further develop their baseball skills and participate in fun games/activities. We will be in Traralgon from 4-5 April and Bendigo from 11-12 April. Learn more and sign up via Team App today.

BV Coach Education: Upcoming Regional Sessions

In addition to our regional school holiday camps, we will also be hosting coach education sessions open to all coaches and anyone interested in getting accredited.

BV Player & Coaching Pathway Officer Keli’i Zablan will lead these sessions, which will cover coaching philosophies and include an open Q&A. No RSVP is required, simply show up and enjoy a collaborative session with fellow coaches who share the same love of the game.

• Traralgon – Wednesday 3 April at 7pm – Moe/Newborough Baseball Club, Burrage Reserve
• Bendigo – Thursday 11 April at 6pm – Falcons/Scots Baseball Clubs, Albert Roy Reserve

It’s grand final time! Best of luck to everyone competing for a premiership as the 2023/24 VSBL Season comes to a close. We look forward to seeing all the results from the weekend.

Please join us at Melbourne Ballpark for Women’s Super Saturday with five grand finals culminating in the Women’s Premier League Firsts clash between Springvale and Newport at 3:30pm, which will be streamed on the VSBL Facebook page through My Sport Live. View all fixtures HERE.

Congratulations to our VSBL Players of the Week for Week 19: Aidan Willis, Ryder Wilson, and Zienna McCulloch. Thank you to BV Diamond Partner Aces Sporting Club for their support with the Women's Batter/Women's Pitcher awards, as well as Ausport for giving each winner a $25 gift voucher.

Well done to everyone on another fantastic summer season – we hope you all had fun and enjoyed our great game!

Sandringham Baseball Club hosted Teal Weekend on 17-18 February, with all senior players wearing teal tops to help raise awareness of ovarian cancer.

The weekend kicked off with the Sandringham/Berwick women's team playing Waverley and on Sunday, all four Premier Major teams played Blackburn at Sandringham.

In conjunction with Teal Day, the club hosted a Royals lunch with guest speaker Hawthorn AFL player Mabior Chol, who threw the first pitch of the ones' game.

"Sandringham Baseball Club would like to thank Blackburn Baseball Club for agreeing to move the thirds and fourths to allow for a special day at Tulip Street," Secretary Andrea Cormick said. "We would also like to thank all those who bought raffle tickets and purchased silent auction items to raise funds for Ovarian Cancer Australia research."

Our Play Ball Pioneers program has been extended to the end of Term 1 as part of the Brookdale Reserve Activation Project in partnership with Wyndham City Council.

We are having a blast out at Brookdale Reserve with BV Development Officers leading players through an introduction to baseball focused on running, hitting, throwing, and catching skills. This is a great opportunity for kids to develop baseball skills and try modified matches.

Sessions run every Wednesday through 27 March with 5-8 year-olds from 4-5:30pm and 9-14 year-olds from 6-7:30pm. There is a $10 fee per session, payable weekly onsite (no commitment required).

Sign up online or contact development@baseballvictoria.com.au for more info.

At the start of the 23/24 VSBL season, Pakenham Pumas Baseball Club introduced a change from traditional white pants to new black pants for the women after feedback and consultation with their playing group.

"The main goal was to boost the confidence for our players while out on the field and we have been receiving great feedback on the change already and even generated conversations around the club about the potential to expand the black pants into the seniors' competition as part of their away uniform,” Jo Blackler said. “The change has been such a success for Pakenham that we have had clubs already reach out for more information about how they too can implement change for their ladies.

“It's a small change for our club with big hit energy for our members and a fantastic way to make women in sports feel comfortable and confident while playing our game."

The 2024 Baseball Victoria AGM was held on Wednesday 7 February, with the election of three BV Board Directors and the awarding of BV Life Membership to a distinguished baseball volunteer.

Anna Ronald, Jessica Toop, and Geoff Boyes were elected as Directors of Baseball Victoria for a term of three years (2027).

“We are pleased to have Anna Ronald, Jessica Toop, and Geoff Boyes on the Baseball Victoria Board and look forward to working together to support baseball in Victoria,” BV CEO Chet Gray said. “Also, thank you to outgoing director Joanna O’Connor who made numerous contributions to our organisation in her six years on the BV Board. We wish her all the best.”

The AGM also resulted in a new Baseball Victoria Life Member, with Leanne Gibbons awarded this honour following decades of dedicated volunteering to support the Geelong baseball community.

Congratulations Leanne!

Leanne Gibbons Summary

Leanne has made a significant and long-term contribution to the sport of baseball throughout Victoria in the delivery of local and state representative competitions at both junior and senior levels. Currently, she is an active part of the 'Baycats' BC organisation having undertaken secretarial, event coordination, training, and compliance roles over the past decades. At an operational level, she has variously undertaken key volunteer resource roles as administrator,  scorer, Certificate level 3 scorer-trainer, junior coordinator, umpire coordinator and canteen manager, doing so across all levels - from grassroots to elite level - and within 3 clubs and the association to which those clubs belong. For these services she has received Life memberships at 2 clubs (Bellarine and Baycats BCs) and multiple Best Club Person Awards at Baycats BC. These awards deservedly illustrate what a committed and much-respected person Leanne is, and a testament to why the organisations she has been involved with over the years have, without exception, prospered and developed.

At the AGM, we also presented the inaugural Baseball Victoria Service Award winners:

• Adrian Dunn (Waverley) - Service to Baseball Award for his dedication as a volunteer
• Chris Rickard (East Belmont Saints) - Service to Baseball Award for extensive coaching at club and state level
• Roland Stott (Newport) - Service to Baseball Award for 45 consecutive years as a coach and administrator
• Andrew Gluth (Sandringham) - Outstanding Contribution Award for 20+ years umpiring junior baseball

Well done to all and we look forward to another great year of baseball ahead. If you would like to catch up on the year that was, please view the 2022/23 BV Annual Report on our website.

Team Australia has announced its Under 18 National Junior Squad, with nine Victorians making the cut.

Congratulations to Addison Bishop-Worn, Ty Daniels, Ben Howard, Will Kent, Jayden Kim, Jack Ratcliffe, Tane Graham, Robinson Smith, and Ryder Wilson.

The squad will head to the USA from September – October to play games in front of a big audience of scouts and college recruiters, with it being an off-year for the U18 World Cup.

Read the full story HERE.

After 10 years, Essendon Baseball Club is excited to announce the opening of Chris Lane Field at Boeing Reserve.

The official opening will be held on Saturday 17 February, with three teams competing in a round-robin event and plenty of family fun all night long.

Mark your calendars and join the EBC community for an awesome day of baseball honoring a beloved Victorian baseballer.

Please note games start at 2pm and the official opening will get underway at 6pm with speeches and an appearance by Australian artist David Bromley with an incredible art display of Chris Lane, which you can read more about in The Age.