For the first time in Australian Baseball history, Country NSW are the U18 National Youth Champions, after the team rallied in the sixth to come from behind, and secure their first ever U18 Title.
Heading into the Championship, Country NSW had the head to head at 2 and 0 against Vic Blue, but the Victorians came out firing and crossed the plate in the first and took an early 1 - 0 lead. Victoria Blue starting pitcher Matthew Beattie, dominated on the hill with Country unable to record a hit for the first 5 innings.
Jack Bramble's double to left field, fired up the Country line up and when Nick Anderson - Vine followed suit with a single, putting Bramble in scoring position, Jacob Amos finished the rally with a bomb to centre field scoring 2 and Country took the lead. The bats stayed hot in the 7th inning as another 2 crossed home plate to increase the lead.
Mitch Inskip proved the difference for Country in the middle, with the hurler notching up 40 strikes from 50 pitches and holding Vic Blue to 1 hit in the final 5 innings, securing the 4 to 1 Gold Medal win.
Chasing the Bronze Medal, an epic game between Queensland and New South Wales, that saw the teams at 3 a piece until the 7th inning when NSW local hero, Isaac Whaston bombed a triple to centre field scoring James Sammes and winning the game 4 to 3.
Final standings for the 2016 U18 National Youth Championship
1. Country New South Wales
2. Victoria Blue
3. New South Wales
4. Queensland
5. Western Australia
6. Canberra
7. South Australia
8. Victoria White
2016 Award Winners
Golden Glove - Harry Fullerton NSW
FLD% .985
Golden Bat - Jordan McArdle SA
AVG .471, AB 34, H 16, RBI 14, SLG% .706
Golden Arm - Mitch Inskip NSW
ERA 0.00, IP 14.1, SO 5
MVP - Oliver Dunn VICB
Gold Medal Game Replay
Event Photos
Results
Individual and Team Statistics