Baseball Victoria Hall of Fame Players: Simone Wearne

Simone Wearne began her extraordinary career as a teeballer and has played in almost all of the seasons of the VBA/Baseball Victoria Women’s Division 1/Premier League since its inception in 1996, representing the Springvale Lions Baseball Club.

Across her glittering club career, Simone has won 15 Premier League premiership titles, claimed five League Pitching Awards (a record), and was named League MVP in the 2010/11 season. She debuted for Team Victoria in 1999 and played at nine National Championships through to 2008, helping Victoria dominate the competition with eight national titles during that span.

Known for her commanding presence on the mound, she was a key factor in Victoria’s consistent success. Simone represented Australia in all World Series events from 2001 to 2004, earning bronze in 2001, gold in 2002, and silver in 2003. She was named co-MVP of the 2002 World Series. When the World Cup format launched in 2004, she contested the first three editions (2004–2008) and across that time, was widely regarded as one of the best pitchers in the world.

Simone was selected to the All-World Team as a pitcher at the 2006 World Cup and was named Baseball Australia Women’s Player of the Year in both 2007 and 2008. In 2012, became the first woman — and the youngest person ever — inducted into the Baseball Australia Hall of Fame.

From 2013 to 2018, Wearne served as Head Coach of the Australian Emeralds, leading the team to a historic bronze medal at the 2014 Women’s Baseball World Cup in Japan — just Australia’s second World Cup medal. She also guided Team Victoria to gold at the 2013 National Championships.