After the scheduled carnival was washed out twice it was eventually moved to Blacktown and shortened to a 2 day event. The Newcastle team performed well winning both their games on Saturday and gaining a place in the final for Sunday afternoon, unfortunately going down by 1 run in a tough 9 inning final to the Central Coast.

Game 1

This was a tough win with the lead changing several times throughout the game, and eventually Newcastle scoring a couple of runs in the last inning and shutting Illawarra out to get the win.

Leigh Halpin, Brittany Hepburn and Ben Eaton did a good job on the mound in wet conditions and Jackson Marjoribanks, Samantha Simmonds, Cooper Thomas and Leigh Halpin were great with the bat providing solid base hits when they were needed.

Game 2

This turned out to be an easy win on the back of some excellent pitching by Sheldon Foster, Cooper Thomas and Andrew Crockford, only allowing 5 base runners all game.

A great team effort with the bat and in the field allowed us to win our 2nd game of the day and advance straight through to the final and get the Sunday morning off while Central Coast and Illawarra played out for the other spot.

Final

A disappointing finish to a great weekend saw the better team finish 2nd here. A few errors both in the field and running bases allowed the Coast to take the win and the Country Championships. A few valuble lessons learned here.

The pitching was outstanding using only 2 pitchers for 9 innings. Sheldon Foster started the game and threw 5 innings and Cooper Thomas closed it for us with 4 great innings. Andrew Crockford and Jackson Marjoribanks picked up 2 hits each and Joel Pettigrew and Matthew Scully had 1 each.

Overall a great weekend was had in damp conditions and the standard of baseball was very high. With a relatively young side things look promising for next year (hope to see you all back again) A big thank you to our executive officer Jenny Marjoribanks and our scorer Lynette Lemon, your time and effort were much appreciated.

The Newcastle team was - Andrew Crockford, Dalton Dowden, Ben Eaton, Sheldon Foster, Leigh Halpin, Brittany Hepburn, Ben Lemon, Jackson Marjoribanks, Greg Mitchell, Joel Pettigrew, Matt Scully, Sam Simmonds, Cooper Thomas, Brenton Woods, Corey Pringle, Pete Wales (head coach) Adam Herrera (assistant coach) Matt Ireland (pitching coach).