With Women's National Championships set to take place from 10 to 17 January 2016, Baseball Australia are again committed to sending an U18 Women's A-Roo National Development Team to Hong Kong for the 2016 Phoenix Cup Tournament.
Baseball Australia has sent U18 teams to the event for the past three years, providing continued development opportunities for young female players across the country. The Phoenix Cup provides important international tournament experience for players up to the age of 18 looking to move through to the Senior National Women's Program in the future.
Selectors will be at the 2016 Women's National Championship in Canberra in January to finalise team details. If you would like to make yourself available for selection, please return the attached form to BA to submit your details.
Please note, the team will be finalised and notified the day after the 2016 National Championship ends. Players who make themselves available for selection must be available to travel to Hong Kong around 16 to 23 February 2016. The U18 Women's A-Roo National Development Program is a user pays program. For information please enquire.
With Women's National Championships set to take place from 10 to 17 January 2016, Baseball Australia are again committed to sending an U18 Women's A-Roo National Development Team to Hong Kong for the 2016 Phoenix Cup Tournament.
Baseball Australia has sent U18 teams to the event for the past three years, providing continued development opportunities for young female players across the country. The Phoenix Cup provides important international tournament experience for players up to the age of 18 looking to move through to the Senior National Women's Program in the future.
Selectors will be at the 2016 Women's National Championship in Canberra in January to finalise team details. If you would like to make yourself available for selection, please return the attached form to BA to submit your details.
Please note, the team will be finalised and notified the day after the 2016 National Championship ends. Players who make themselves available for selection must be available to travel to Hong Kong around 16 to 23 February 2016. The U18 Women's A-Roo National Development Program is a user pays program. For information please enquire.
CAIRNS, QLD -- Queensland snapped New South Wales' streak of two consecutive U25 National Championships with a 6-5 win over the NSW side in the title game. Victoria claimed the tournament's bronze medal, while South Australia finished fourth.
The championship game proved a back-and-forth affair between the two sides. NSW got on the board first in the top of the fourth inning thanks to a two-run home run off the bat of John Collins.
QLD answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the same frame to level the score, and took the lead in the bottom of the next frame led by a bases-clearing triple by Daniel Nilsson. NSW slowly came back over the next three innings, scoring a run apiece in each frame, but it wasn't enough to mount a complete comeback as QLD held on for the title.
The championship win was the culmination of a dominant performance for the Queenslanders, who posted a 7-1 overall record in the tournament.
To reach the championship game, NSW came from behind to defeat Victoria 5-4 in the bronze medal game earlier in the day. VIC got on the board first with two runs in the top of the second inning, but NSW tied the game in the bottom of the next frame.
The game remained tied until the final inning, when VIC took a two-run lead. Trailing 4-2, NSW rallied for three runs in the bottom of the final frame for a 5-4 walkoff win. Rick Schwarz delivered the game-winning hit for NSW, which propelled them to the title game against QLD.
In addition to the championship presentation, four awards were handed out as part of the closing ceremonies. SA's Kyal Williams was named MVP, Andy Campbell of the champion QLD side won the Batting Award, Wes De Jong from VIC was named the Pitching Champion and Michael Vine of second-place NSW earned the Golden Glove.
More information on the U25 National Championships can be found on the event homepage.
CAIRNS, QLD -- The second-to-last day of play at the U25 National Championships saw an exciting extra-inning thriller and three teams advance to the bronze medal and championship games, which will be tomorrow.
Queensland 14, New South Wales 6
Both sides got on the board early in a high-scoring affair that saw Queensland build a late lead to win 14-6. Home side QLD held a 4-3 lead after the first frame and took a 5-3 lead with another run in the bottom of the third. NSW tied the game in the top of the fourth, but QLD roared ahead with a four-spot in the bottom of the fifth inning, and padded the lead with a run in the sixth followed by another four-spot in the eighth. NSW got back on the board on a solo shot off the bat of Rick Schwarz in the eighth but it wasn't enough to mount a comeback. QLD held on for the win and the right to play in the title game. Markus Dymalla and Zane Guess led the QLD offence with three RBIs apiece, while Josh Fritsch homered and drove in two runs.
Victoria 8, South Australia 7 (11 innings)
Victoria came from behind to defeat South Australia 8-7 in an extra-inning ballgame that kept everyone on their toes. SA took an early lead and VIC trailed by five runs by the fourth inning. The visiting VIC side mounted a late comeback that started with one run in the top of the eighth inning. The next frame, Jon Bannister led off the inning with a triple. By inning's end, four runs came home on base hits by Hayden Godbold, Billy Findlay, Harry Levy and Jeramy Young. Tied at 6-6, the game went to the tenth inning and tiebreaker rules. Both sides got on the board with a run apiece in the tenth inning, so the tiebreaker scenario continued into the eleventh inning. In the top of the eleventh, Young singled in a pair of runs to give VIC an 8-6 lead. SA answered with just one run, giving VIC a well-earned win and the chance to play NSW for the bronze medal.
NSW and VIC will battle for bronze tomorrow morning at 9:00am AEST. The winner of that match will go on to face QLD in the U25 National Championship Game at 1:00pm AEST.
CAIRNS, QLD -- Two days remain in the U25 National Championships, and action keeps heating up as four teams - New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria - vie for the title of Australia's U25 National Champion. Check out the daily recap from Day 4's exciting game play.
Queensland 11, New South Wales 1
Queensland continued its dominance of the U25 National Championship with an 11-1 win over New South Wales. Ryan Battaglia got QLD on the board first, smashing a two-run home run in the top of the first inning. Two-spots in the third, fourth, fifth and seventh innings followed, Battaglia and Andy Campbell NSW finally got on the board in the Despite the loss, NSW shone on defence, turning three double plays
South Australia 11, Victoria 2
South Australia scored nine runs in the final five innings of play to defeat Victoria 11-2. Kyal Williams continued to execute at the plate for SA, going 3-for-5 with three RBIs in the win. Jay Sanderson also led the SA offence in the game with four hits and two runs driven in. On the mound for SA, Liam Mullen held VIC scoreless in his six innings of work, striking out four batters. For VIC, Cameron McNish struck out seven batters in his four innings.
Heading into the final day of competition before the bronze medal and championship games, the standings are as follows:
The complete schedule, including tomorrow's games, can be found here.
CAIRNS, QLD -- The U25 National Championship continues this week, hosted by the Cairns Baseball League. Full results and recaps can be found below.
New South Wales 11, Victoria 2
The first game of the day saw New South Wales use three three-run innings to soundly defeat Victoria 11-2. Chris Douglas earned the win with three strong innings while Jack Jeffries struck out seven batters in four innings on the mound. At the plate, Josh Strong and Matt Smith each drive in a pair of runs to lead the NSW offence.
Queensland 10, South Australia 0
Queensland continued its dominance of the tournament with a 10-0 shutout win over South Australia in five innings. Jack Barrie got the scoring started for QLD with a solo shot in the top of the second inning. QLD put up a four-spot in the next frame and added three more runs in the top of the fourth inning. Andy Campbell's two-run home run in the top of the fifth, paired with Challen Smith's dominance of the SA lineup sealed the five-inning win for QLD.
New South Wales rallied late, scoring all four of its runs in the final two frames to beat Victoria 4-3 in walkoff fashion. VIC got on the board first, scoring twice in the second inning and adding another run in the next frame. Jon Bannister led the VIC offence with two hits and two RBIs. However, NSW rallied to tie the ballgame in the bottom of the sixth inning and scored again in the bottom of the final frame for the win. Jeremy Bec led NSW at the plate with three hits.
South Australia 9, Queensland 7
South Australia rallied from the morning's shutout loss to defeat Queensland 9-7 in a back-and-forth battle. SA got on the board first with a pair of runs in the top of the first frame, but QLD answered with four runs in the bottom half. SA tied the game with one run apiece in the second and third innings, but QLD regained the lead with a run in the third frame. Trailing by one run, SA put a four-spot on the board in the fourth inning and added an insurance run in the top of the final frame for a 9-7 win. Kyal Williams led SA, going 5-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs, while also chipping in an inning of scoreless relief to pick up the win on the mound. Markus Dymalla put up big numbers at the plate for QLD, hitting a grand slam and driving in five runs, while Jack Barrie hit his second home run of the day.
Tomorrow, NSW and QLD face off while SA and VIC match up again.
OSAKA, Japan -- After a hard-fought game in the bronze medal match at the 2015 World Baseball Softball Confederation U18 Baseball World Cup, Australia fell to No. 8 South Korea, ending the tournament in fourth place.
No. 14 Australia made a strong impression on the global baseball stage, with a fourth-place finish out of 12 teams. The placement came after a close 8-5 loss to No. 8 South Korea in the bronze medal game earlier today.
Australia's journey through the tournament included a series of impressive wins. The young side opened First Round play with a 10-0 win over No. 12 Mexico and an 11-1 win over No. 15 Brazil. A pair of losses to No. 1 Japan and No. 2 USA followed, before Australia closed out the First Round with a 10-0 win over No. 20 the Czech Republic, advancing to the Super Round.
The team opened the Super Round with a bang, upsetting No. 3 Cuba in a stunning extra-inning 7-4 victory. Despite falling to No. 7 Canada and No. 8 South Korea in the final two Super Round games, Australia advanced to the bronze medal match against South Korea on WBSC tiebreaker rules. After losing a close game to South Korea in the bronze medal match, the Aussie side finished the tournament with a 4-5 overall record.
More information about Australia's performance at the U18 Baseball World Cup can be found using the following links.
No. 14 Australia made a strong impression on the global baseball stage, with a fourth-place finish out of 12 teams. The placement came after a close 8-5 loss to No. 8 South Korea in the bronze medal game earlier today.
Australia's journey through the tournament included a series of impressive wins. The young side opened First Round play with a 10-0 win over No. 12 Mexico and an 11-1 win over No. 15 Brazil. A pair of losses to No. 1 Japan and No. 2 USA followed, before Australia closed out the First Round with a 10-0 win over No. 20 the Czech Republic, advancing to the Super Round.
The team opened the Super Round with a bang, upsetting No. 3 Cuba in a stunning extra-inning 7-4 victory. Despite falling to No. 7 Canada and No. 8 South Korea in the final two Super Round games, Australia advanced to the bronze medal match against South Korea on WBSC tiebreaker rules. After losing a close game to South Korea in the bronze medal match, the Aussie side finished the tournament with a 4-5 overall record.
More information about Australia's performance at the U18 Baseball World Cup can be found using the following links.
Day 2 of the U25 National Championship saw two games played between the four teams
Pitcher Wes DeJong tossed seven innings of one-hit baseball and struck out six batters as Victoria shut out South Australia 9-0. A six-run seventh inning led the way for VIC, which picked up its first win of the tournament.
Queensland 5, New South Wales 4
Jack Barrie hit a three-run home run as Queensland defeated New South Wales by a close score of 5-4. QLD got on the board early, with one run in each of the first two innings before Barrie's blast in the fourth made the score 5-0. NSW rallied late, scoring in each of the final four innings, but QLD held on for a 5-4 win. Josh Strong led the NSW offence, going 3-for-5 at the plate.
Tomorrow's schedule can be found here.