(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
 Familiar names in Australian Softball Final
Nederlands
 BLACKTOWN, Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales (Australia) -
The 69th edition of the Women's Softball Fastpitch Australian National Championship Tournament went underway on Sunday (January 3) at Blacktown International Sportspark in Blacktown, which is a suburb of the City of Blacktown, which is located in Greater Western Sydney, which is part of Sydney, the capital of New South Wales.
However, the first day of the annual event was interrupted by heavy rain.
In recent weeks, parts of Australia had extreme heat.
For example, there were temperatures of 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 Celsius) in South Australia.
But today, rain struck, resulting in the cancellation of three games.
Unfortunately, heavy rain is also predicted for Monday and more rain is expected to come on Tuesday.
Six teams participate in the National Championship Tournament.
Five teams represent five of the six Australian States, being New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.
The lone State not represented is Tasmania, but that has participated in the past.
The sixth team represents one of the three Territories, being Australian Capital Territory.
The two territories without a team are Northern Territory and Jervis Bay Territory.
Playing in Australia and thus now participating in the Australian Championship are some familiar players, including two Netherlands National Team-players.
...Britt Vonk...
...4 hits, triple, HR, 4 runs, 2 RBI's in first 2 games...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Saskia Kosterink, who played in the Dutch big league for Tex Town Tigers and Sparks Haarlem, and also played for Bollate in Italy, is playing for Western Australia Flames, for whom she has played before.
In that team, she is a teammate of Leigh Godfrey, who also was her teammate at Sparks Haarlem.
Britt Vonk in active in her first Australian season.
The short stop, who played in the Dutch big league for Tex Town Tigers, Alcmaria Victrix and Terrasvogels and in Italy for La Loggia, plays for Queensland Heat.
There, she is a teammate of Belgian-turned-Australian Brenda De Blaes, who played in the Dutch big league for Twins for four years, then went to play one year in the USA, followed by seven seasons in Italy.
Two players of the Italian National Team are also playing in Australia this season, being Greta Cecchetti and Ilaria Pino.
The latter already played in Australia before.
Both play for Australian Capital Territory Diamonds.
That also is the team of Alli Edgtton, who pitched for Euro Stars recently.
Another familiar name is that of pitcher Monica Perry, who pitched for Terrasvogels in its championship-season 2013.
In the last two seasons, she played in Italy and now is in her second Australian season.
In the Championship Tournament, she plays for South Australia Starz.
There, she is a teammate of Belinda White, who this year will be making her debut in the Dutch big league, playing for DSS.
Monica Perry has been added again to the roster of Terrasvogels for this season.
Also playing for South Australia is Michelle Edgtton, who pitched for Twins the last two seasons in the second Dutch league.
Besides these players, there are of course also several familiar names of players, who are (former) members of the Australian National Team.
Besides Leigh Godfrey, Brenda De Blaes and Belinda White, that includes Michelle Cox, Chelsea Forkin, Sandra Holden, Jocelyn McCallum, Stacey McManus, Kaia Parnaby, Stacey Porter, Justine Smethurst, Vanessa Stokes, Taylah Tsitsikronis, Jade Wall and Clare Warwick.
On Day 1 (Sunday), Britt Vonk had a good outing with Queensland Heat.
The team opened on Sunday-morning with a 5-0 shutout-win vs. Western Australia Flames, then won 4-1 in its next game against South Australia Starz.
...Saskia Kosterink...
...hitless in opener...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the opener, Britt Vonk was the lead-hitter, played as short stop, was 2-for-4 and scored two runs.
Saskia Kosterink led off for Western Australia and played in leftfield.
She was 0-for-2 with a walk.
Western Australia collected only three basehits off of two pitchers, including two off of starter Justine Smethurst, who pitched five innings.
In the first game, Queensland opened the score with two runs in the third at bat.
Britt Vonk and Janice Blackman led off with bunt-singles, then advanced on a double-steal.
They then respectively score on a single by Brenda De Blaes and sacrifice fly by Chelsea Forkin.
Two runs were added in the fifth inning.
This time, Britt Vonk led off with a single and stole second base.
She advanced on a single by Janice Blackman and scored on a single by Brenda De Blaes.
A sacrifice bunt by Jade Wall brought in Blackman to make it 4-0.
In the seventh, Queensland made it 5-0 when Janice Blackman led off with a homerun.
In the second game, Britt Vonk was 2-for-3, scored twice and also batted in two runs for Queensland in the match-up against South Australia.
A double by Jenny Dunn enabled Ada Brincat-Tree to score in the first inning, giving South Australia a brief 1-0 lead.
Queensland came alongside in the second at bat when Chelsea Forkin led off with a triple and scored on a single by Jade Wall.
After South Australia stranded a runner on third base in the bottom of the second, Queensland took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third when Britt Vonk led off with an inside-the-park-homerun!
Queensland added two more runs in the fifth inning.
Jessica Muller struckout, but reached on a wild pitch.
Her pinch-runner Danielle Opperman then advanced on a wild pitch and moved to third on a grounder by Carmen Sorensen.
Moments later, she scored on a triple by Britt Vonk, who then scored herself on a grounder by Stacey Webber to make it a 4-1 score.
The game ended after five complete innings due to rain.
In this game, Justine Smethurst pitched the first four innings and again gave up only two basehits.
...Greta Cecchetti...
...starter for ACT Diamonds...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the third game of Day 1, which was played at the same time of the Queenland vs. South Australia game, Victoria Titans came from behind to win 2-1 vs. Australian Capital Territory Diamonds.
Italian Greta Cecchetti started for ACT, while Ilaria Pino was the catcher (1-for-2).
ACT opened the score in the third inning.
Alexis Cooper led off with a walk and moved on a wild pitch.
Hereafter, Clare Warwick also walked, but she was doubled up on first base when Ella Ross lined out.
Clare Jones followed with a triple that led to the run, but that would be the lone one for ACT.
In the bottom of the third inning, Cecchetti got two quick out, but then issued two walks and was replaced by Lana Tye.
In the botom of the sixth, Jessica Bahn led off for Victoria with a double and moved to third base on a foul-fly.
She then scored when Tayla Supple tripled to make it an 1-1 score.
A walk for Sarah Tutchener followed.
Hereafter, Supple scored when no outs were made on a fielder's choice-grounder by Kimberley Quince, which gave Victoria a 2-1 lead.
Next, Tutchener was caught stealing, while Quince moved to second base.
Pinch-hitter Emma Willmott then walked to give Victoria another baserunner, but then this game also was halted due to the rain.
The winner of the tournament wins the Gilley's Shield, the trophy for the Open Women's Australian National Championship.
The trophy is named after Mack Gilley, who was the President of the Queensland Softball Association, who organised the first interstate championship competition in 1947.
Back then, only Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria participated.
No event was held in 1948, but an annual tournament has been held since 1949, making the current one the 69th edition.
In early years, it was Victoria that dominated the event, winning the championship 22 times in 1947 through 1985.
But its last title dates from 31 years back!
Since 1986, Queensland and New South Wales are the most successful teams.
Queensland won eleven times since then, the last time in 2009.
New South Wales captured the title 16 times since 1986, including the last two years.
NSW won the championship in three of the last four years.
(January 3)
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