Victoria Aces will have a shot at grand final glory on Sunday as the 2022 Australian Women's Baseball Showcase wraps up in Geelong.

The Aces lost 12-2 to Brisbane Bandits on Saturday afternoon but still got a spot in the final after Adelaide lost to Brisbane in the second game of the night.

Brisbane pitchers proved tough for Victoria, with the Aces collecting six hits while giving up 15. Allie Bebbere, Gabby Bevan, and Maddy Patrick switched off on the mound for the Aces while Hannah Jackson and Morgan Doty each picked up an RBI.

Abbey Kelly doubled in the first and singled in the third, while Chelsea Forkin had singled in the second and came around to score Victoria's first run. Forkin had another base hit in the top of the fourth.

Doty opened the fourth inning with her second home run of the showcase and Abbey McLellan also kept up the momentum at the plate with a hard-hit single to center.

Looking ahead to the grand final, the Bandits have won three out of their four games while the Aces are 2-2.

Victoria Aces and Adelaide Giants went head-to-head in a Friday night classic at Geelong Baseball Centre, with the Giants proving too good, winning 4-0 over the Aces as the 2022 Australian Women's Baseball Showcase continued.

Victoria had five hits as starter Jess Johnson allowed only two hits in a pitchers’ duel with Adelaide's Mizuki Bando. A grand slam from Ayami Sato in the third following a rain delay made all the difference in an otherwise tight matchup.

The Aces loaded the bases in the first as Abbey Kelly singled, Morgan Doty walked, and Abbey McLellan was hit by pitch, although they couldn't quite get around to score.

Baseball Victoria is pleased to open expressions of interest for an all-girls team to participate in the 2022 State Winter Championships as part of the growing women and girls pathway.

Interested youth girls aged 11-17 are encouraged to register their interest to play with a full team of girls at the upcoming winter tournaments.

Please click HERE to register your interest by the closing date, Thursday May 12 at 11:59pm. Tryout details will follow based on the level of interest.

The 2022 Baseball Victoria Awards Night livestream celebrated amazing accomplishments from around the Victorian baseball community throughout the 2021/22 VSBL season.

Streamed in partnership with My Sport Live, the Baseball Victoria Awards featured individual winners and special video messages from BV Life Member Don Stephens, Division 1 MVP Craig Barnett, and Women’s Division 1 MVP Abbey Kelly. Coach of the Year Donavon Hendricks, Volunteer of the Year Tanneale Marshall, and Umpire of the Year Casey Cooke also made appearances.

Congratulations to all the deserving award winners on their fantastic achievements and tireless dedication to Victorian baseball!

Most Valuable Players

• Division 1 - George Heron Medal: Craig Barnett – Berwick City Cougars (21 votes)
• Women's Division 1: Abbey Kelly – Essendon Bombers (17 votes)
• Division 2 - Robert Hindson Medal: Wesley de Jong – Werribee Giants (23 votes)
• Women's Division 2: Leslie Anglin – Newport Rams (16 votes)
• Division 3: Daniel Conway-Jones – Bonbeach Bluejays (23 votes)
• Women's Division 3 North East: Terina Stokes – Waverley Wildcats (16 votes)
• Women's Division 3 South: Erin Kent – Sandringham Royals (18 votes)
• Women's Division 3 West: Andrea McKenner – Sunshine Eagles (16 votes)
• Division 4 East: Russell Hodgson – Blackburn Orioles (16 votes)
• Division 4 North West: Evan Pun – Melbourne Demons (14 votes)
• Division 4 South: Trevor Stumbles – Mornington Pirates (20 votes)

Club Champions

• Division 1 Club Champion – Peter Dihm Shield: Essendon Bombers (300 points)
• Division 2 Club Champion: Moorabbin Panthers (291 points)

Individual Awards

• Volunteer of the Year Award: Tanneale Marshall – Blackburn
• Coach of the Year Award: Donavon Hendricks – Upwey Ferntree Gully
• Umpire of the Year Award: Casey Cooke

Women's Division 1

• Pitching Award: Maddy Patrick – Springvale Lions (2.02 ERA)
• Batting Award: Hannah Jackson – Springvale Lions (.639 BA)

Division 1

• Home Run Award: Keli'i Zablan – Geelong Baycats (5 HRs)
• Pitching Award: Sam Street – Essendon Bombers (0.32 ERA)
• Batting Award: Ryan Dale – Malvern Braves (.478 BA)

Division 2

• Home Run Award: Darryl George – Port Melbourne & Nicolaas Unland - Doncaster Dragons (3 HRs)
• Pitching Award: Nicholas Veale – Moorabbin Panthers (0.74 ERA)
• Batting Award: Nicolaas Unland – Doncaster Dragons (.506 BA)

Division 3

• Home Run Award: Cameron Wilson – North Western Titans (4 HRs)
• Pitching Award: Lucas Anderson – Springvale Lions (0.62 ERA)
• Batting Award: Rydge Hogan – Springvale Lions (.525 BA)

Awards night highlights are being shared across Baseball Victoria social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

An 18-player roster loaded with a host of the sport’s biggest homegrown and international talent will represent the Victoria Aces at the 2022 Australian Women’s Baseball Showcase in Geelong from May 5-8.

Following the success of the inaugural Showcase featuring the Brisbane Bandits and Adelaide Giants in 2021, the Victoria Aces will make its Showcase debut in the expanded three-team 2022 format.

13 Victorians have been selected to don the blue and white in 2022 including eight-time Team Australia ‘Emeralds’ World Cup representative Shae Lillywhite, reigning National Championship MVP and five-time Emerald Bronwyn Gell, and teenage pitching phenom Genevieve Beacom.

A trio of Emeralds in Morgan Doty, Abbey Kelly and Abbey McLellan, plus rising Victorian stars Gabby Bevan, Emily Devine and Maddy Patrick, will suit up in their home colours after being loaned to the Giants and Bandits in 2021. 

Emerald Leslie Anglin, plus Allie Bebbere, Hannah Jackson and Jess Johnson, will make their Showcase debut for their home club. 

The Aces also warmly welcome some of baseball’s biggest names in Emeralds seven-time World Cup veteran Tahnee Lovering (NSW), and four-time rep Taylah Welch (QLD).

Three-time World Cup Emerald and 2020 Tokyo Olympian softballer Chelsea Forkin (QLD) is confirmed, as is Luisa Gauci (QLD), currently the only Australian playing US college baseball. 

The international experience is further bolstered with the addition of Team USA veteran and six-time World Cup catcher Anna Kimbrell.  

Victoria Aces Team Manager Samantha Hamilton also confirmed her coaching roster with Stephen Black, Tim Ballard and Donavon Hendricks providing a wealth of experience and knowledge to the club.

“I am really excited about what lies ahead for the Victoria Aces players, coaches and staff,” said Hamilton.  “We have set some really great foundations both on and off the field through the Baseball Victoria High-Performance Academy led by Damian Shanahan and Keli’i Zablan, and we are keen to keep building on these through to and at the Showcase.”

Victoria Aces Roster

The 2022 Australian Women’s Baseball Showcase will be held at the Geelong Baseball Centre from Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 May. 

The Victoria Aces will take on the Adelaide Giants and Brisbane Bandits in a doubleheader on Thursday, before facing the Giants on Friday and Bandits on Saturday. The top-two teams will face off in the May 8 grand final.

Victoria Aces Schedule

• Thursday May 5 @ 4:05pm - Aces vs Giants
• Thursday May 5 @ 7:05pm - Aces vs Bandits
• Friday May 6 @ 7:05pm - Giants vs Aces
• Saturday May 7 @ 4:05pm - Bandits vs Aces
• Sunday May 8 @ 12:05pm - Grand Final

Baseball Victoria acknowledges the support of the Melbourne Aces through the joint venture to promote and manage the Victoria Aces, the Victorian Government through its Significant Sporting Events Program, and the City of Greater Geelong through its community events grants.

Links

Follow the Victoria Aces on social media via

Facebook.com @BaseballVictoria 

Twitter.com @baseballvic

Instagram.com @baseballvictoria

Tiktok.com @baseballvic 

Baseball Victoria is excited to announce the 2022 Awards Night livestream with My Sport Live, set for Monday 2 May at 7:30pm.

Award winners from the 2021/22 VSBL season will be unveiled, including home run, pitching, and hitting champions, plus MVPs and Coach/Volunteer/Umpire of the Year.

Baseball Victoria is looking forward to this celebration of wonderful accomplishments after another successful summer season across the Victorian baseball community.

Please join us in celebrating - watch live on the BV Facebook page or stay tuned for highlights, which will be shared on BV social media platforms, including Instagram and YouTube.

Victorian representatives enjoyed a fantastic week at the 2022 Australian Youth Women’s Baseball Invitational in West Beach, Adelaide from 16-20 April.

14 Victorians were invited to attend the invitational, including Caitlin Hoy, Chelsea Nunn, Ebony Sutherland, Eden Neave, Emily Brennan, Erin Kent, Hayley Fielden, Isabella Lee-Young, Jessica Brown, Leah Antonacci, Lily McKenner. Macy Priamo, Nyah O’Brien, and Ruby Benne.

Victorians Leah Trebilcock and Andrew Fielden were part of the coaching staff which led players through testing, training, workshops and games as part of a camp and competition format for rising female prospects from around the country.

“Being part of the AYW coaching staff has been incredibly rewarding and humbling. I learnt so much about the game, and about coaching, from the talented staff around me, and got to invest in the next generation,” Leah Trebilcock said.

The invitational was modelled off Emeralds training camp, starting each day with specific skill workshops before modified game play in the afternoon to put what they learned into practice and succeed on the field.

Daily journaling sessions helped the girls and coaches document what they learned, and there were plenty of highlights throughout the week, including home runs by Nyah O'Brien, Erin Kent, and Jessica Brown. Fellow Victorian Caitlin Hoy won the No More Spirit of the Game award for the camp after displaying the best spirit and respect for the game.

Overall, the experience was incredibly valuable for players and coaches alike, giving all participants the chance to enhance their skills and become even better baseballers.

“Perhaps my favourite part of the experience was coaching alongside Narelle Gosstray. 10 years ago, I attended my first National Women's Championships, playing under Narelle as part of the Northern Territory team,” Leah explained. “Prior to that, I didn't even know there were more than a few girls playing baseball! Throughout the AYW Invitational, I had the opportunity to pass on many of the lessons that Narelle had taught me a decade ago - that was pretty special.”

The coaches are confident the future of women’s baseball is very bright across Australia and beyond.

“I hope that some of these girls get to achieve all their baseball dreams, whether that's making Victoria Blue, representing the Emeralds, or having the opportunity to play college baseball,” Leah said. “I would love to see more opportunities for youth girls to play high level baseball, such as charter and national tournaments. The talent is getting better year on year, and these girls are going to be unstoppable!”

Inspired by the invitational, the players are determined to keep improving and chasing their dream of representing Victoria or Australia.

Emily Brennan from Research Lower Plenty Baseball Club is excited for the future as she hopes to one day represent Victoria at women’s nationals and play in a World Series with the Emeralds.

“My highlight of the tournament was meeting all of the other girls as well as being given to opportunity to play baseball at a higher level of competition and be shown a pathway that I can continue to follow to become the best player I can be,” Emily said.

“My goal going into the tournament was to become more confident as a catcher which was evident as the competition progressed. I also aimed to be able to generate more power in my hitting and reading of different pitches which we worked on with the help of the amazing coaching staff and some of the Emeralds players.”

Macy Priamo also had an awesome week in Adelaide. As a dedicated player with Malvern and North Balwyn who is training hard to increase her strength and conditioning, Macy embraced every moment of the invitational, led by Emeralds Manager Jason Pospishil (Pops) and more of the country’s top coaches.

“I really enjoyed all the different stations that we did in the mornings and then being able to implement the things we had learnt into the games. As Pops described it, we were leaning new things to pass an exam which was the games,” Macy said.

“For the week with Pops and the coaches, I had a number of mini goals to improve in my understanding of the game. I definitely came a long way to achieving my goal of learning where to throw on certain plays, know what pitch the pitcher will throw based on the way the ball spins, and being able to adjust to different pitches like curve balls, fastballs and change ups.”

Looking ahead, Macy can’t wait to keep working hard on the field.

“In the future I would like to continue to play and coach our club ball, hopefully play in higher teams in the men's seniors, and continue to grow our new women's team at my club,” Macy said. “I want to keep training and improving and try out for the open Victoria women’s team, and I would love to play for the Emeralds.”

The 2022 Little League State Championships finished in exciting fashion on Sunday, with Southern Mariners taking out the LL Major Grand Final and Baycats winning LL Development.

Well done to all players and teams on a fantastic weekend at Knox and thank you to all volunteers and supporters for making this such a memorable tournament.

Check out GameChanger recaps from the finals below.

Little League Major

Twins 7 v Eastern Athletics 5

Little League Development

Mariners Teal 9 v Twins Black 2

Mariners teal won 9-2 over Twins Black after opening the game with a bases-loaded walk in the first.

Twins tied things up at two in the bottom of the second, but Mariners Teal pulled away for good with two runs in the third inning.

Mariners Teal scored five more runs in the fourth on singles by Kai C. and Hayley D.

Xavier led things off on the hill for Mariners Teal, giving up two runs on two hits over four and a third innings, striking out seven.

Connor B. was on the hill for Twins Black. The pitcher allowed one hit and four runs over three innings, striking out nine. Kaiden R. threw one inning out of the bullpen.

Connor and Lucas K. had one hit each for Twins Black as the team was sure-handed in the field and didn't commit a single error. Treye M. had the most fielding chances with 11.

Mariners Teal didn't make any errors either as Jack B. had the most chances with seven.

Twins Orange 9 v Mariners White 8

Both teams scored two runs in the first but Twins Orange took the advantage with a five-run second, eventually earning a one-run victory despite being out-hit by Mariners White nine to four.

Molly L., Mia W., and Sage W. had multiple hits for Mariners White while Patrick M. doubled and stole a base.

Arlo V., Harry D., Noah A., and Keiran H. recorded hits for Twins Orange. Arlo had an RBI triple while Keiran stole two bases.

Thomas S. pitched for Mariners White while Ry V. put in work on the mound for Twins Orange.

Twins Orange 9 v Mariners Teal 7

Twins Orange seized victory in dramatic walk-off fashion with a walk-off single. The game was tied at seven with Twins  batting in the bottom of the fourth when Arlo V. singled on a 2-0 count, scoring two runs.

Mariners Teal scored four runs in the third inning on Chase P.'s home run, but Twins Orange still managed to pull out the victory.

Earlier, Jack C. singled to open the scoring for Twins Orange in the first inning.

Joseph H. was on the mound for Twins Orange. The bulldog went three and a third innings, allowing seven runs on four hits and striking out three.

Oscar H. toed the rubber for Mariners Teal. Oscar surrendered four runs on three hits over two and two-thirds innings, striking out four. Chase threw one-third of an inning in relief out of the bullpen.

Arlo went 2-for-2 at the plate to lead Twins Orange in hits.

Mariners Teal tore up the base paths, as two players stole at least two bases. Riley F. led the way with two. Mariners Teal didn't commit a single error in the field as Jack B. had four chances, the most on the team.

Grand Final: Baycats 13 v Eastern Athletics 2

Baycats had everything working on Sunday, winning 13-2 over Eastern Athletics in the grand final.

Baycats got on the board in the first inning as Tylah L. doubled on a 3-1 count, scoring two runs. Three more runs scored on hits from George S., Jack N., and Theo H. in the third.

Tylah was on the pitcher's mound for Baycats. The bulldog went two and a third innings, allowing one run on one hit with seven strikeouts.

Phillip T. toed the rubber for Eastern Athletics. The pitcher surrendered five runs on three hits over one-third of an inning, striking out one. Clayton H. and Michael N. entered the game from the bullpen, throwing one and two-thirds innings and one inning, respectively.

Jack had two home runs for Baycats while Tylah, George, and Xavier F. also had multiple hits. Baycats didn't commit a single error in the field as George had the most chances with 13.

Jonathan R. led Eastern Athletics with two hits in two at bats.

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