Congratulations to our U16 and U18 Victorian State Teams on their bronze medals! Both teams wrapped up the 2023 Australian Youth Championships in style with big victories on Tuesday.
U16: VIC 8, QLD 4
Victoria defeated Queensland 8-4 on Monday after taking the lead late in the game. It was tied at four with Victoria batting in the bottom of the sixth when Hudson Pallay doubled on a 3-2 count, scoring two runs.
QLD was first on the board with one run, but Jordan Ellis tripled and Roman Coote doubled in the second to make it 2-1.
The back-and-forth battle continued with QLD tying it up in the fourth before scoring another two in the fifth. Victoria evened things up in the bottom of the inning when Robinson Smith singled on the first pitch of the at bat, scoring one run.
Victoria put up a four-run sixth inning, starting with back-to-back walks before a Hudson Pallay double. Andrew Land and Mitch Langworthy got on base with a hit by pitch and a walk, putting runners in scoring position for Smith's second single. One more run scored before the inning was over, and Pallay got three quick outs on the mound to seal the deal in the seventh.
Nathan Rumbelow led things off on the hill, throwing four innings, allowing two runs on three hits. Cade White and Pallay pitched in relief.
Victoria totaled nine hits, with two apiece for Langworthy and Smith. Ty Daniels, Land, Pallay, Ellis, and Coote had one hit each.
U18: VIC 13, NSW 4
Victoria took an early lead with big hits from Lachlan Smith and Jack Ratcliffe in the first inning. It was 9-0 going into the second, and they kept up the pressure with another run in the third and three in the sixth.
NSW put up four in the third but other than that struggled to keep up with Victoria's quality pitching. Starter Aimon Dowling gave up two hits and three runs with a strikeout in two and a third innings. Lachlan Amon struck out three and gave up two hits and a run in four innings of work.
Smith went 4-for-5 as Victoria totaled 12 hits. Declan Speirs tripled and knocked in two runs while Harper Rickard had two hits. Ratcliffe, Jayden Kim, Evan Maury, James Squire, and Will Cavanagh had one hit each.