After an amazing week of baseball, New South Wales capped off their undefeated tournament against Victoria Blue to claim the Simone Wearne Shield for the fifth time in six years following a 12-4 win.
Lianna Davidson was honoured with the start for New South Wales, and paid her coaches back in spades, tossing four shutout innings, striking out seven in the process and setting her team up for success. Davidson put together a performance for the ages, with her success not limited to her work on the mound, as she went 2-for-2 with 3RBI with bat in hand.
Despite having such a dominant tournament, New South Wales were challenged early by the Victoria Blue defence, as Chelsea Stewart continued to challenge the dominant New South Wales hitters. Victoria’s defence was a highlight in the opening inning, with some sharp plays made by Lili Cavanagh at third base.
New South Wales opened the floodgates in the fourth inning, picking up six runs from five hits, however in trademark fashion, Victoria Blue never gave up, managing to extend the ballgame with four runs of their own in the top of the fifth.
NSW Manager Ashleigh Ross was impressed with Victoria’s efforts on the day.
“They really pushed us today,” Ross said.
“We had to lift our game today, they’ve got some great talent and we had to be on our game.”
NSW’s Ticara Geldenhuis finished the tournament with an astonishing .824 batting average after claiming another two hits and two RBI today, while Serena De Gail and Caitlin Wilde each picked up two RBI.
Victoria’s Lili Cavanagh claimed the Gold Glove Award for best fielder of the tournament, while NSW’s Maddison Heath finished with the batting award.
After an incredible start in the gold medal game, NSW utility Lianna Davidson was aptly given the Pitching Award.
MVP of the Australian Youth Women’s Championship was Ticara Geldenhuis. The NSW shortstop finished with 14 hits and 10 RBI from her 17 at bats, as she ended up hitting .824 for the tournament.