Welcome to Baseball Australia’s new look E-Newsletter “Line-Up” for September 2014. Moving forward, this newsletter will be sent out monthly and will include up to date information and resources for all our members and community.
The new baseball season has begun and registrations for the 2014/2015 membership year have been open for many weeks now. It is pleasing to see the increased usage of the new membership system with more and more members choosing to self-register using the sports IMG system. We have already seen a strong increase in self registrations, which is extremely satisfying as the more our sport collectively utilises this system, the better we will be positioned to continue to grow.
What a year it has been so far for Australian Baseball, with the staging of the 2014 Major League Baseball Opening Series at the Sydney Cricket Ground, wonderful displays of skill and sportsmanship by our various teams in all corners of the world, the Australian Baseball League finalising its 5th season and continuing to grow, and participation and engagement in our sport continuing to expand.
Congratulations must go to our two (2) National teams the Southern Thunder and the Emeralds. After a heart breaking loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Southern Thunder bounced back to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks in the exhibition games prior to the Opening Series. It was a historical moment not only for the coaches and players but also for all fans of Australian Baseball.
The national women’s team, the Emeralds, also did us all extremely proud by winning the bronze medal at the recent Women’s World Cup in Japan. Congratulations to first time head coach Simone Wearne on a great world cup campaign and for continuing to demonstrate that we have some of the best women’s baseball players in the world.
The Perth Northern Metros Little League team also made history recently by becoming the first ever Australian Little League team to win a game at the Little League World Series. Our Little League teams have fast become fan favorites at the annual World Series due to their exemplary sportsmanship and never say die attitude.
To the army of volunteers who are about to embark on a summer of coaching, umpiring, cutting grass, marking lines, washing uniforms or organising players, I wish you the best of luck for a wonderful and fulfilling season and send my sincere thank you for all that you do for our great sport.
Make sure you visit baseball.com.au regularly to keep up to date with everything baseball in Australia!