February 23, 2012

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Simone Wearne named to the Australia Hall of Fame

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Simone Wearne

Simone Wearne has been accorded the highest honour available in Australian baseball by being named to the Baseball Australia Hall of Fame. Wearne (31) becomes the first woman to join the Hall of Fame and will be the youngest person to be inducted into the Hall, when the Baseball Australia Diamond Awards are presented at the Stamford Plaza in Sydney on February 25.

A right-handed pitcher, Wearne helped the Lady Lions win several Premierships and was also a coach and administrator at the club.

Beginning in 1999, Wearne was a State player every year until she retired from elite baseball in 2008. She also played in numerous World Series and World Cup tournaments for Australia from 2001 to 2008 and was arguably the country’s best pitcher.

Wearne was appointed captain of Team Australia at the 2008 Women’s World Cup in Japan and in December of 2010 became the first woman to be appointed an assistant coach of the national women’s team.

As a player Wearne was Australia’s most decorated female baseballer at the domestic and international levels. She was joint tournament MVP at the Women’s World Series in 2002 and the ABF Female Player of the Year in 2008 and 2009.

The concept of an Australian baseball Hall of Fame was first formally raised in 2002, when the Australian Baseball Federation board created a Heritage Committee, who were tasked with creating a Hall of Fame including the selection criteria and induction process. The first group of inductees was announced in December 2004, and were formally inducted at a presentation ceremony on 27 January 2005.

Via: International Baseball Federation

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Samantha Hamilton: One of baseball’s big hitters

November 15, 2011 By 1 Comment

Samantha Hamilton

Samantha Hamilton lived out a sporting dream this year when her efforts sealed the Australian Women’s Baseball Championship for Victoria.

Playing in the final in New South Wales, it was the bottom of the seventh and final inning, and with the score at 2-2, second baseman Shae Lillywhite was on second base. Hamilton scored a single to left field and Lillywhite made it home to clinch Victoria’s seventh national title in 10 years.

“It was like shooting the winning basket when you’ve got three seconds before the shot-clock runs out,” Hamilton says.

“You’ve got the possible winning runs on base, you’re up to bat. You’re either the hero or the mule.

“This year New South Wales thought they had it in the bag. They were bigger and stronger than ever.

“Luckily we had a lot of depth and didn’t drop a game.”

Hamilton, who lives in Watsonia and plays for Doncaster, says it was one of the highlights of her sporting career.

“It was a very edge-of-your-seat type game,” the 38-year-old says. “Two of the best teams in the country throwing everything at each other, and we came away with the win.”

The victory was even sweeter considering Victoria failed to make the final in 2010.

“That was a gut-wrenching tournament,” Hamilton says. “I’d rather make the final and lose, because it just kills you, sitting out.”

Hamilton knows a thing or two about gut-wrenching tournaments. She was at the 2010 Women’s Baseball World Cup in Venezuela when Hong Kong player Cheuk Woon Yee was shot in the leg by a stray bullet during a game held at a military base.

The Australian team was due to be playing at the time but a rain delay pushed the game back.

The team was locked down in its hotel for the next few days, and members took a vote on whether to stay and continue playing, or return home. The decision was unanimous. They would stay.

Read the rest at the Banyule and Nillumbik Weekly.

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Narelle Gosstray Appointed to the IBAF Women’s Commission

November 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Narelle Gosstray

The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) has appointed Australian Narelle Gosstray to their Women’s Commission based on her distinct qualifications, reputation and experience in baseball.

This component of IBAF is committed to:

  • Giving recommendations and making proposals aimed at developing baseball among female athletes;
  • Increasing female participation in baseball competitions;
  • Growing the number of countries that send national teams to competitions;
  • Increasing the number of women within the baseball sectors of coaching, officiating and sport administration;
  • Increasing opportunities for female athletes with disabilities that may want to participate in baseball at the local, national and international levels.

These responsibilities sit well with Narelle, who has made a commitment to advocating for and developing women’s baseball.

Narelle first played baseball in 1995 and quickly secured her place in the sport, representing her country only five years later. She played on the National Women’s team from 2001 to 2005, and has taken her elite skills and experience into every facet of baseball; from player, committee, coach and administrator.

In 2001 Narelle moved to Sydney and started the Baulkham Hills Women’s team. It was important to Narelle to develop women’s baseball, especially from the junior level, to ensure an ongoing legacy of female baseball in Australia.

She did this through developing junior girl’s competitions and clinics in New South Wales and was also instrumental in starting the first junior girl’s invitational competition.

In 2010, Narelle was appointed to the Australian Women’s Baseball Steering Committee, which she says provided recognition of her contribution to the sport. Also on the board of the Australian Womensport and Recreation Association, Narelle is dedicated to the acceptance of women in sport, and her appointment to the IBAF commission is another step forward in her pursuit.

Narelle says she would like to see the acknowledgement of women in all sport and believes this would “contribute to a stronger and healthier national community and culture”.

In baseball, Narelle is working towards overcoming the stigma that baseball is a sport for men, saying that “both genders should have equal opportunity to play and contribute at every level”.

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Australia Finishes 4th – Baseball

September 1, 2008 By Leave a Comment

The Australian women’s baseballers have fallen just short of a medal after going down 2-1 in the match with the USA in the Women’s Baseball World Cup in Japan.

Read the full match report over at Baseball Australia.

In the competition overall, Japan won the gold, Canada the silver and the USA the bronze.

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Aussies Play for Bronze – Baseball

August 29, 2008 By Leave a Comment

 

Australia’s run toward World Cup Gold came to an end after going down 10-1, in a near perfect performance by tournament favourites Japan, on Day 4 of the 2008 Women’s World Cup in Matsuyama.

The Japanese were relentless as they punched out 15 hits and scored at least one run in every inning to stand alone as the tournament’s only remaining undefeated team.

You can read the rest of the report over a Baseball Australia.

Australia is right now playing Canada for the bronze medal. We’ll keep you posted!


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