Emily Smidt, Tanisha Saunders and Sarah Spackman are all smiles after their grand final triumph over neighbouring rivals Western Sydney Academy of Sport.
South West Sydney Academy of Sport girls softball team has triumphed in the grand final of the 2019 Your Local Club Academy Games in the Hunter Valley.
The grand final was played against neighbouring rivals, Western Sydney Academy of Sport.
But while the girls team were crowned champions, the boys softball team from South West Sydney Academy of Sport also went close – but not close enough.
South West Sydney boys played their seventh and grand final game of the weekend against home team, Hunter Academy of Sport.
Playing a standard 7 innings game, the teams could not be split, and it wasn’t until the tie-breaking 9th inning that Hunter got one extra player home to take out the title.
South West Sydney softball manager Samantha Scholte praised her team: “The home crowd was definitely pro Hunter.
“But our boys took it to them and were fiercely competitive until the very end.’’
Speedy pitches from Abbey Hart, Harper Crawford, Mia Gilmore and Hannah Trevena – and the Gunn sisters, Amber and Jasmine, living up to their names – helped South West Sydney reach the grand final decider.
The girls had won the knock-out final against Northern Metropolitan for the right to play Western Sydney for the title.
South West Sydney girls were so dominant on the day the 7-0 mercy ruling was called into play.
Connor Cameron, Riley Sutcliffe, Timothy Gleeson, Evan Wulff and Nicholas Hunter are part of the new breed of softballer coming through the academy ranks.
Coaches Peter Doherty, Fiona Ioannou, Brayden Schouten and Dale Smith said they were proud of every South West Sydney softballer taking part in the 2019 games.
They said the games was a wonderful learning experience for both teams as well as perfect preparation for the Australian Invitational Youth Games in July.
“Being a part of a highly regarded sports academy is great and being able to play in the Academy Games is something that will always be treasured,’’ Ms Scholte said.
“It is an experience that will live with our athletes forever and the friends and memories made on weekends away such as this are very special indeed.’’
