Jarryd Dale receives invite to Orix Buffaloes Spring Training in Japan

23 January 2025 By Staff Writers

By Staff Writers

Jarryd Dale receives invite to Orix Buffaloes Spring Training in Japan

After a stellar Australian Baseball League season, Melbourne infielder Jarryd Dale has an opportunity in Japan.

In the first week of February, Dale will fly to Japan on a Spring Training invite with NPB’s Orix Buffaloes.

The 24-year-old Team Australia shortstop had a career best year in the ABL.

He led the league with a .381 average and led all shortstops in fielding percentage. Dale was named a finalist for the Helms Award, given to the ABL’s most valuable players.

The link with Orix came through the Melbourne Aces partnership with the Japanese professional team. The Buffaloes send players to Melbourne each season to play in the ABL.

“After having a good season I was talking to our manager Jon Deeble about my plans for the year and ultimately the relationship he and the Melbourne Aces have with Orix Buffaloes landed me the opportunity to go to their spring training and try make a club,” he says.

Dale will head to Spring Training in Miyazaki, a place he’s previously gone with Team Australia at the World Baseball Classic.

“This is a new and exciting opportunity for me as for the past seven years I’ve gone to spring training in the USA,” he says.

Dale spent seven seasons in the minor leagues with the San Diego Padres. He’s also played for Australia at the World Baseball Classic and Premier12.

He’s also won two Claxton Shields, although this past ABL season was his most productive on a personal level.

“The mindset I had throughout the ABL year was to be confident,” says Dale. “My mental game has grown throughout the years so everyday the challenge was to trust the work I put in will have a positive result.”

If Dale cracks the Orix Buffaloes roster, he will be assigned to either their Major League (NPB) or Minor League club.

“I’ve learned that regardless of the adversity I’ve faced I have to keep a positive outlook on the game and remember why I play it,” says Dale. “For me that’s my family as they continue to support me as I go through my career.”

21 January 2025 By Eric Balnar

By Eric Balnar

Aussies Sign Pro

South Australian infielder Nic Paparella flies out to USA to attend Galveston College

Another Australian has joined the US College Baseball ranks.

South Australian Nic Paparella has committed – and already flown out to – Galveston College, a Division I Junior College based in Texas.

Paparella departed late last week and has already commenced work-outs ahead of the Spring Season.

18-year-old Paparella played for Australia at the 2023 Under 18 World Cup, has appeared as a development player for the Adelaide Giants, and represented South Australia at multiple Australian Youth Championships.

Paparella played for Australia on a travel trip to the Perfect Game Invitational in Jupiter. He played at the MLB Select showcase, too.

16 January 2025 By Staff Writers

By Staff Writers

- Aussies Abroad Aussies Sign Pro

17-year-old Victorian pitcher Robinson Smith signs with Pittsburgh Pirates

17-year-old Victorian pitcher Robinson Smith has become the latest Australian to sign professional after inking a six-year deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates today.

With family and friends at Sandringham Royals Baseball Club, Robinson unveiled his Pittsburgh Pirates uniform on the very first day of the International Signing Window.

“Signing professionally is something I have dreamt about for as long as I can remember,” says Smith. “The Pirates are the perfect fit and offer me the opportunity to develop as a player and pitcher, supporting my journey to my big-league goal.”

Smith joins fellow Australians Jayden Kim, Solomon Maguire, Rubens Romero & Brandan Bidois in the Pirates organisation.

He’s been a highly touted and heavily scouted in the Australian baseball scene.

At the 2024 Under 18 National Championships, Smith was a key cog in the Victorian pitching staff during their Gold Medal campaign.

There were sixteen MLB organisations with on eye on him at the Australian tournament.

He spent a good portion of 2024 in the United States, honing his skills working with Top Prospects coach Manny Carrion in Florida.

He showcased his talent in front of scouts on a regular basis, before choosing the Pirates.

Smith says he embraced the experience.

”Some people might notice them and get nervous, but I used it as a confidence booster,” he says.

Smith is 6’4 right-hander with multiple pitches. He possesses a 90mph+ fast ball and multiple off-speeds.

He was a crucial part of Victoria’s U18 National Championship Gold Medal in 2024. Smith was named to the U18 Junior Squad shortly after.

He has experience pitching with the Southern Mariners Charter program and through club ball with the Sandringham Royals.

He’s been eating regular innings in Division 1 of the Victoria State League.

“I would definitely say I have a lot of energy on the mound,” says Smith. “You can see I want to win. I want to have a battle. There’s a competitive drive behind me when I am pitching. I have a quick arm and I’ve been working on my command. I think have good breaking balls.”

Smith was signed by Pirates scout Tony Harris.

“Athletes like Robinson are rare. We have been following his development for some time, and he possesses the physicality, athleticism, competitiveness, and work ethic that we seek in a young ballplayer,” he says. “He enjoys playing on both sides of the ball, loves to hit, and has a fastball that consistently reaches the low to mid-90s (miles per hour).”

You put the whole package together, and it’s very exciting. I believe his future is on the mound and he has the potential to play at the highest level, so it’s time to put in the work and aim for the big leagues,” he says.

Robinson expressed his gratitude to his family and the the Australian baseball community.

“I have had so many people help me get where I am today: family, coaches, and teammates. It will take hard work, but I’m up for it and can’t wait to begin next month,” says Smith.

You can follow his professional journey via baseball.com.au.

More media to come. We’re so proud of you, Robinson!

16 January 2025 By Staff Writers

By Staff Writers

Australian Youth Championships

Final Stat Leaders of the Australian Youth Championships - Under 16 & U18 Division

The 2025 Australian Youth Championship has come to a close.

Here are all your stat leaders from each age bracket.

More Reading: 2025 Australian Youth National Championship Award Winners

UNDER 18

Gold: New South Wales
Silver: Western Australia
Bronze: South Australia
4. Victoria
5. Queensland
6. A.C.T
7. New South Wales Country

Golden Glove: Lincoln Gruppelaar (NSW)
Golden Arm: Riley Puckett (NSW)
Golden Bat: Lachlan Vella (NSW)
MVP: Matt Trainor (NSW)

TEAM RECORDS

STATS

UNDER 16

Gold: South Australia
Silver: Victoria
Bronze: Western Australia
4. New South Wales
5. Queensland
6. New South Wales Country
7. Roos

Golden Glove: Cooper Bishop-Worn (VIC)
Golden Arm: Will Bonham (NSW)
Golden Bat: Cooper Busch (VIC)
MVP: Ollie Hayes (SA)

TEAM RECORDS

STATS

15 January 2025 By Eric Balnar

By Eric Balnar

Australian Youth Championships

U18 Gold Medal Day Updates & Highlights | New South Wales win Under 18 National Championship

For the first time in 10 years, New South Wales have claimed Gold on a dramatic final day of the Australian Youth Championships. Read about how the day unfolded below, including recaps, highlights and player quotes from both finals games.

Watch the replay on Baseball+.

First, here’s yesterday’s recap of how today came to be.

MASTER AYC HUB: baseball.com.au/ayc2025

PAST U18 RESULTS: U18 Australian Baseball Championships Hub

BROADCAST: Baseball+ (plus.baseball.com.au)

TODAY’S SCHEDULE AND RESULT

For live scoring, search ‘2025 Australian U18 Youth Championship’ in the GameChanger App to follow along. You can also find the link here.

Preliminary Final: Western Australia 3 def South Australia 0

Gold Medal: New South Wales 7 def Western Australia 0

Consolations – Because of weather, only one consolation will be played.

ACT 15 def Victoria 5

RECAPS

GOLD MEDAL GAME RECAP: NEW SOUTH WALES WIN GOLD AFTER SHUTTING OUT WESTERN AUSTRALIA

A shutout. A homer. A one-hitter. A fire alarm delay. A stadium evacuation. A gold medal.

New South Wales wrapped up their 2025 Under 18 Championship campaign in golden colours after defeating Western Australia 7-0.

Ethan Bickel, Damien Wilson and Ashton Kennedy combined to one-hit a potent Western Australia offense.

New South Wales built up an early 5-0 lead, and put a ribbon on it late with a Lachlan Vella homer.

It was Vella’s fourth big fly of the event.

The game also endured a peculiar fire alarm delay for almost an hour in the middle of an at-bat in the fourth inning.

“I knew the offence we had was on fire. Our field was outstanding all tournament, barely any errors, so it was great to pitch behind them,” said Bickel after the game. “I stuck to my routine, it has been going well all week. There were a lot of nerves but I tried to stay as calm as possible to get the job done for the boys.”

The bats came out of the gates hot for New South Wales, building a nice buffer.

Kobe Cusbert and Tahlan Cavill each had an RBI single in the bottom of the first, pairing nicely with Josh Nati’s sacrifice fly. 3-0.

Matt Trainor cashed in a fourth run in the second and later scored on a wild pitch. 5-0.

Meanwhile, Ethan Bickel was humming along nicely on the bump. He allowed no runs, with one hit and one walk, with five strike outs in the first 3.1 innings. He was removed after the fire delay.

Damien Wilson took over from there, tossing 2.2 innings with no hits, one walk and five strikeouts.

Ashton Kennedy sealed the final three outs with a perfect seventh, featuring two strikeouts.

Matt Trainor went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a walk. He was named the tournament’s MVP.

Tahlan Cavill also had two hits.

Lachlan Vella put the game to bed with a huge exclamation point in the sixth.

He crushed a ball over the left field fence for his fourth homer of the season to reach our final 7-0 scoreline.

“I looked at Christian Lane before the at-bat and said ‘This is my last U18 at-bat’ and then I torched one over the fence,” said Vella, the tournament’s Golden Bat winner.

New South Wales win their first U18 title in 10 years.

Head coach Phil Hemmer praised the camaraderie after the game.

“We focused on building the core, building the group [before the tournament].”

“We wanted to be good young men, good blokes and good teammates. From the start we wanted to come together as a team. And I think it proved dividends. We were great off the field, great on the field, we were a good group to be around and that’s the principle we tried to build around.”

“Guys were able to be themselves. We encouraged that and it worked out,” he said. “That’s 20 mates right there. They win together. They lost together. They pulled tarps together. They cooked together. It was just a team.

“It didn’t necessarily mean be the best team on the field, but we wanted to be just the best team. We wanted to be the best bunch of blokes, look after each other, and respect where we are. We did that in leaps and bounds. I’m very proud of the boys.”

Hits: Matt Trainor (2), Tahlan Cavill (2), Lachlan Vella, Kobe Cusbert, Christian Lane, Frank Clarke.

PRELIMINARY FINAL: NEAR PERFECT GAME SENDS WESTERN AUSTRALIA TO GOLD MEDAL FINAL

A perfect game attempt was foiled with one out in the bottom of the last as Western Australia defeated South Australia 3-0 to advance to the Gold Medal Final at noon.

Logan Truscutt was sublime in his start. 12 up, 12 down. No walks, no hits, no runs. He struck out two.

Brady Manning followed and retired the first seven batters he faced before James McFarlane singled. Manning finished with a sensational line of 3.0 innings with one hit, no runs and five strikeouts.

“We had good rest, good sleep and good tunes on the bus ride to the ballpark,” said Truscott after the game. “I was out there throwing strikes, I didn’t realise it was a perfect game until the fifth inning.”

Western Australia did all their scoring in the bottom of the third. Tyson Edwards and Lenny Golding each had RBI singles. Riley Oliphant had a sacrifice fly.

Credit to South Australian pitching, they were solid too. Mitch Evans allowed three runs off four hits in his 3.1 innings start. Sam Galpin, Haru Riley and Zac Tibbits then combined to allow no hits over the following 3.2 innings.

Western Australia will now play New South Wales at 12:00PM. Watch on Baseball+.

Hits Western Australia: Lenny Golding, Ben Nesbit, Judd MacNeil, Tyson Edwards
Hits South Australia: James McFarlane

CONSOLATION GAME: ACT 15 def VICTORIA 5

ACT won their fourth game of the tournament, dispatching Victoria for as second time in the week.

The game was tied in the fourth until Eli Tanouye & Bailey Richards singled in three runs.

They pulled away with a six run fourth inning, tallying five hits. Dominic Hamilton and a 2-RBI single, Tanouye had a sacrifice fly, Ryan Padovan cashed in a pair with a single and Ben Sawyer drove in a score.

Cayden Nash led ACT with two hits. Richards, Padovan, Ethan Clugstan and Hamilton all had two runs batted in.

Sam Walk and Sam Land both had two hits for Vic U18. Ryley Shanks led Victoria with 2RBI, going 1-for-2.

FINAL TOURNAMENT STANDINGS

1. New South Wales
2. Western Australia
3. South Australia
4. Victoria
5. Queensland
6. Australian Capital Territory
7. New South Wales Country

HOW FINALS WORK

Monday 13 January will be the first days of finals.

The following teams have qualified in this order:

1. Western Australia
2. New South Wales
3. Victoria
4. South Australia

Here’s how the finals work:

– The winner of 1v4 (Western Australia vs South Australia) will play the winner of 2v3 (New South Wales vs Victoria) in the Qualifying Final. The loser will meet in the elimination final.

– The winner of the Qualifying Final advances to the Gold Medal Game. The loser goes to the Preliminary Final.

– The winner of the Elimination Final will advance to the Preliminary Final as well.

– The Gold Medal will be contested between the winner of the Qualifying Final & the Preliminary Final

– Roos, New South Wales Country & Queensland will play in the consolation round

The schedule for the remainder of the finals will be confirmed after Saturday.

14 January 2025 By Eric Balnar

By Eric Balnar

Australian Youth Championships

U18 Nationals Day 6, Jan 14 | Updates, Recaps, Scores, Schedules & Information

WEATHER UPDATE: Tomorrow’s Gold Medal and Preliminary Final Games have been moved forward

South Australia survive and advance & New South Wales punched their ticket to the Gold Medal Game at the Australian Youth Championships on a hot day in Blacktown.

We also had some key performances in the consolation games.

13 January 2025 By Staff Writers

By Staff Writers

Australian Youth Championships

2025 Australian Youth National Championship Award Winners

Congratulations to our 2025 Australian Youth Championship Award Winners.

Under 16 Hub: Click here
Under 18 Hub: Click here

AYC Hub: www.baseball.com.au/ayc2025

Under 18

TOURNAMENT MVP – MATT TRAINOR (NSW): Trainor had a great tournament on both sides of the plate. He hit .500 with 8RBI and 6BB. He delivered clutch hits throughout the week. He pitched 4.0 innings of scoreless ball throughout the week.

GOLDEN BAT – LACHLAN VELLA (NSW): Vella went beast mode. He had 12 hits. Four of those were homers. He also had 15 RBI. He led the tournament in all of those categories.

GOLDEN ARM – RILEY PUCKETT (NSW): A tournament we’ll be talking about for a long time. He threw a shutout in both of his starts. Outing 1: 6.0 innings with 2 hits, 0 walks and 7 SO in a 1-0 complete game effort over Queensland in the minor rounds. In the Preliminary Final, he threw 6.0 shutout, striking out seven, allowing four hits and one walk. In total: 12.0 IP, 5H, 14SO, 1BB and no earned runs.

GOLDEN GLOVE – LINCOLN GRUPPELAAR (NSW): Lincoln was a vacuum at shortstop. He played regular innings in the middle of the field and didn’t make an error. A perfect fielding percentage in a Gold Medal Effort.

GOLD MEDAL NEW SOUTH WALES

SILVER MEDAL WESTERN AUSTRALIA

BRONZE MEDAL SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Under 16

TOURNAMENT MVP: Ollie Hayes (South Australia): Hayes had a big tournament in all three phases of the game. He hit .435 for South Australia and led the team in RBI, delivering clutch hits throughout the tournament. In the field, he made just one error while playing mostly shortstop and helped turn two double plays. He also pitched 9.0 innings (second on the team) allowing four runs and was used in big spots. South Australia won the national title.

GOLDEN ARM: Will Bonham (New South Wales): Bonham threw 9.1 innings across four games in the tournament. He led qualified pitchers with in ERA (0.75) and strikeouts (17), often used in high leverage situations.

GOLDEN BAT: COOPER BUSCH (Victoria): A dominating tournament at the plate, going 14-for-27 (.529) with five extra base hits and 10 runs batted in. Busch helped pace a lethal Victorian offence.

GOLDEN GLOVE: COOPER BISHOP WORN (Victoria): Excellent on the diamond both as a pitcher and infielder, making just one error in the game and amassing 12 assists.

Gold Medal: South Australia

Silver Medal: Victoria

Bronze Medal: Western Australia

13 January 2025 By Eric Balnar

By Eric Balnar

Australian Youth Championships

U18 Australian Baseball Championships Hub | Previews, Schedule, Information, Links, Results

New South Wales have won the 2025 Australian Youth Championships.

Here you will find the schedule, results, standings important links and information on each of the teams.

For the master AYC Hub, head to baseball.com.au/ayc2025

13 January 2025 By Eric Balnar

By Eric Balnar

Australian Youth Championships

U16 Gold Medal Day Updates, Recaps, Highlights | South Australia win 2025 Under 16 National Baseball Championship

South Australia has won the 2025 Under 16 Australian Youth Baseball Championship. It’s their first Under 16 title since 2016.

They defeated Victoria 6-3 in the gold medal game, riding great pitching, clutch hitting and some huge defensive moments.

They finish the tournament as the only undefeated team at 9-0.

Read about how they got there right here.

Here you will find recaps and mini-match highlights for each medal game today.

For the master AYC Hub and yesterday’s stories, head to baseball.com.au/ayc2025.

For past U16 Results: Visit the U16 HUB

For live scoring, head to GameChanger and search ‘2025 Australian U16 Youth Championship’ in the GameChanger App to follow along. You can grab the link directly here.

Watch the games on Baseball+ (download in App Store) or on plus.baseball.com.au

SCHEDULE / RESULTS

Preliminary Final – Victoria 12 def Western Australia 4. Highlights and recap below.

Gold Medal – South Australia 6 def Victoria 3

Consolation Games
– NSW 10 def Roos 4
– QLD 9 def NSW Country 3

RECAPS / STORIES

The day’s format worked like this:
11:30AM – Preliminary Final, winner through to Gold Medal
2:00PM – Gold Medal Game, watch the replay on Baseball+

PRELIM FINAL: Victoria ride Bishop-Worn pitching, dominant batting into Gold Medal Game

Cooper Bishop-Worn was outstanding on the hill, while the Victorian bats continued to thrill, in a dominating 12-4 win over Western Australia in the Preliminary Final.

It’s a quick turnaround. They’ll now play for gold against South Australia at 2:10PM AEDT on Baseball+. Victoria are looking to win their first U16 National Championship since 2017.

Cooper Bishop-Worn dazzled in his start. He threw 5.2 innings, allowing just three hits & one run with eight strikeouts.

“I stayed with my routine and treated this as any other game,” said Bishop-Worn after the game. “It was a good outing.”

The bats built him a mighty lead. 11-0, in fact.

Cooper Busch started the scoring in the second with a 2-RBI double. Euan Clarkin punctuated a six-run third with a 2-RBI double of his own.

Clarkin starred with the bat, going 3-for-5 with 2RBI. Bush and Brody Trevean each drove in a pair. Ethan Kint went 1-for-3 with a walk and 3 RBI.

Overall, Victoria tallied 10 hits and drew eight walks. They built up an 11-0 lead before Western Australia tacked on late runs including three in the last.

Victoria outscored opponents 30-6 in their last two elimination games, an incredible effort to reach the Gold Medal Game.

Can they carry the momentum into the Gold Medal game in thirty minutes? One way to find out.

Western Australia will win Bronze.

GOLD MEDAL GAME RECAP: South Australia win 2025 Australian Youth Championship Gold

South Australia has won the 2025 Under 16 National Championship.

They jumped in front early and stayed in command throughout, riding great pitching, highlight reel defense and clutch hitting.

Kyan Tafui steady the ship for the South Aussies on the mound. He threw 6.0 innings, allowing just six hits and three earned runs (below).

What makes his performance more special is his opponent. Victoria averaged over 11 runs per game in the tournament and were hitting .410 as a team. He kept them in check.

South Australia jumped to an early 2-0 lead in the first when tournament MVP Ollie Hayes slashed home a pair of runs on a double.

They added another in the second to lead 3-0.

Victoria moved within a run in the third on a sacrifice fly and a Cooper Busch RBI single.

South Australia responded instantly with back-to-back RBI singles to Luke Kennedy and Ollie Fielder.

The teams traded runs in the sixth an RBI to Victoria’s Langworthy and South Australia’s Couzner.

There were some incredible defensive highlights in this game, including a diving effort from Couzner in right field to save runs in the sixth.

Luke Kennedy earned the save for South Australia.

South Australia hits: Harry Taintey, Tommy bird, Ollie Hayes, Luke Kennedy, Ollie Fielder (2), Owen Couzner

Victoria hits: Oscar Shimakura, Cooper Busch, Mitch Langworthy, Brodie Trepan, Johnathon Park

Consolation Game: New South Wales 10 def Roos 4

Will Bonham dazzled on the mound and New South Wales exploded for seven runs in the third inning in a consolation win at Knights Field.

Will Bonham allowed no earned runs off two hits and eight strikes out in 2.2 innings of fine work.

Trystan Crynes, Will Hooper, Draven Fatu, Ryan Reekie, Hamish Kelly and Noah Nash all had runs batted in during the inning.

Kelly and Fatu led the team with two RBI.

New South Wales finish fourth in the tournament because they qualified for finals. On a count back for the group stage, the Roos finish 7th.

FINALS FORMAT

Saturday 11 January was the first days of finals.

The following teams have qualified in this order:

1. South Australia
2. Victoria
3. Western Australia
4. New South Wales

Here’s how the finals work:

– The winner of 1v4 (South Australia v New South Wales) will play the winner of 2v3 (Victoria v Western Australia) in the Qualifying Final. The loser will meet in the elimination final.

– The winner of the Qualifying Final (SA vs WA) advances to the Gold Medal Game. The loser goes to the Preliminary Final.

– The winner of the Elimination Final (VIC) will advance to the Preliminary Final as well.

– The Gold Medal will be contested between the winner of the Qualifying Final (SA) & the Preliminary Final

– Roos, New South Wales Country & Queensland will play in the consolation round

The schedule for the remainder of the finals will be confirmed after Saturday.

13 January 2025 By Eric Balnar

By Eric Balnar

Australian Youth Championships

U18 Nationals Day 5 - Finals Day 1 - Jan 13 | Updates, Recaps, Scores, Schedules & Information

It’s the first day of Finals at the Under 18 Championships.
Please note, games have been moved from Blacktown due to weather.

All finals games will be held at Gilchrist Orioles, home of Macarthur Orioles.

All consolation games will be at Knights Field, home of the Castle Hill Knights today.

Here you will find recaps, standings and game time changes.

For the master AYC Hub, head to baseball.com.au/ayc2025. Games are scored on Gamechanger. Search ‘2025 Australian U18 Youth Championship’ in the GameChanger App to follow along. You can also find the link here.

For past U18 Results, visit the U18 Hub here.

DAY 5 – JANUARY 13 – RESULTS / SCHEDULE

Consolation Games
– Queensland 15 def New South Wales Country 9
– ACT 6 def Queensland 2

1 vs 4 Final: Western Australia 9 def South Australia 7

2 vs 3 Final: New South Wales 11 def Victoria 8

The consolation games will be played at Knights Field, home of Castle Hill Knights. Directions to Knights Field can be found here: www.castlehillbaseball.com.au/ground-locations/

The Finals Games will be played at Gilchrist Oval, home of the Macarthur Oval.

Tomorrow’s schedule:

RECAPS

1 vs 4 Final: Western Australia 9 def South Australia 7

Western Australia will medal at the Under 18 Youth Championships after defeating South Australia 9-7 in the first final at MacArthur Orioles Baseball Club.

Ben Nesbit (below) led the effort by going 2-for-2 with 3RBI. Lenny Golding and Caleb Scorer also had two hits.

It was a bit of a wild one, with South Australia outhitting WA 9-7.

Teams traded early runs. Western Australia led 2-0 and 5-2 and South Australia kept responding.

But WA held their nerves, breaking a 5-5 tie by scoring four runs in the bottom of the third. Scorer, Golding, Eita Samukawa and Ben Nesbit each had RBI in the decisive inning.

Lenny Golding scored three runs himself.

Deakin Filko, Henry Wise and James McFarlane each had two hits for South Australia. Wiese and Bailen Thomas each drove in a pair.

South Australia pegged two back in the fifth before the game was called for time.

Western Australia advance to the Qualifying Final tomorrow against either Victoria or New South Wales. Win that? Straight to the Gold. Lose? Off to the Preliminary Final.

South Australia will play in the Elimination Final tomorrow.

Key Performers:
– Deakin Filko (SA): 2-for-3, 1 RBI
– Henry Wiese (SA): 2-for-3, 2 RBI
– Lenny Golding (WA): 2-for-2 with 3R, 1 RBI, 1BB
– Ben Nesbit (WA): 2-for-2 with 3RBI

1 vs 4 Final: New South Wales 11 def Victoria 8

Lachlan Vella (below) drove in five runs on two hits to help New South Wales power past Victoria in a slugfest at MacArthur.

New South Wales built up a 4-1 lead before Victoria pegged two back in the third. Will Kent put a ball in play that helped cash in two runs to push the score to 4-3.

New South Wales then exploded for seven runs in the third off of three hits.

Frank Clarke and Mason Malkoun had RBI singles, before Lachlan Vella hit a three run homer. It is his second big fly of the tournament.

Will Hardy had three hits and 2RBI for Victoria. Will Kent had three runs batted in off a hit.

New South Wales will play Western Australia in the Qualifying Final. The winner of that game progresses directly to Gold. The loser goes to the Preliminary Final.

Victoria will meet South Australia in the Elimination Final. The winner advances to the Preliminary Final. The loser? Tournament over.

Key Performers:
– Lachlan Vella (NSW): 2-for-4 with 5RBI
– Frank Clarke (NSW): 2-for-3 with 2RBI
– Will Hardy (VIC): 3-for-4 with 2RBI
– Will Kent (VIC): 1-for-3 with 3RBI

UNDER 18 FINALS BRACKET

Final Game 1: Western Australia vs South Australia

Final Game 2: New South Wales vs Victoria

Elimination Final: South Australia vs Victoria
Qualifying Final: Western Australia vs New South Wales

Preliminary Final: Winner of Elimination Final vs Loser of Qualifying Final

Gold Medal: Winner of Qualifying Final vs Winner of Preliminary Final

Consolation Standings:

1. ACT 1-0
2. Queensland 1-1
3. New South Wales County 0-2

HOW FINALS WORK

Monday 13 January will be the first days of finals.

The following teams have qualified in this order:

1. Western Australia
2. New South Wales
3. Victoria
4. South Australia

Here’s how the finals work:

– The winner of 1v4 (Western Australia vs South Australia) will play the winner of 2v3 (New South Wales vs Victoria) in the Qualifying Final. The loser will meet in the elimination final.

– The winner of the Qualifying Final advances to the Gold Medal Game. The loser goes to the Preliminary Final.

– The winner of the Elimination Final will advance to the Preliminary Final as well.

– The Gold Medal will be contested between the winner of the Qualifying Final & the Preliminary Final

– Roos, New South Wales Country & Queensland will play in the consolation round

The schedule for the remainder of the finals will be confirmed after Saturday.