Trials for the women’s team were held in July with 21 players attending at least one of the two trial sessions. After the trials five players withdrew their availability once they understood the training and playing commitments required of team members.

The final team that played at Port Macquarie was:

• Tegan Asquith (University)
• Cassie Clark (Boomerangs)
• Kala Crockford (Toronto)
• Kristy Field (University)
• Stephanie Gaynor (Boomerangs)
• Cindel Harvey (Toronto)
• Brittany Hepburn (Boomerangs)
• Lindsay Hill (University)
• Lauren Howe (Belmont)
• Katrina Lilly (Nelson Bay)
• Kirstine Metcalfe (Nelson Bay)
• Laura Schofield (Nelson Bay)
• Cassie Sherring (Belmont)
• Samantha Simmonds (Boomerangs)
• Ashleigh Townsend (Maitland)
• Cathi White (White Sox)

The team had a difficult tournament due to their inconsistency in the field and on the mound. Whilst we won only 1 game over the weekend there were two other games where we had good chances to win and if we had won those games we may have made the final. Each of the opposing teams had one or more Women’s National team members but our players were able to compete with them quite well.

Nine players were selected in the Country Baseball NSW Open Womens team squad. There are Tegan Asquith, Cassie Clark, Kala Crockford, Stephanie Gaynor, Katrina Lilly, Cassie Sherring, Samantha Simmonds and Ashleigh Townsend. This confirms that we have a solid talent base available to us to build on for future years.

My thanks go to Elizabeth Sherring who did an excellent job as EO. Thanks also to Ben Terry (Pitching Coach), Greg Hall (Assistant Coach) and Trish Hall (Scorer).

Several of the team members have skill levels that would enable them to acquit themselves well in the NBA Third Grade competition. Hopefully they will get the opportunity to do so.

Looking forward I see a solid future for this representative program. We need to take on board the lessons learnt in Port Macquarie and make the necessary adjustments to the training program. Having done this I believe we can become regular participants in the finals at these championships, matching the success of the Open Men and Under 23 teams.

Peter Huish
Coach

To view the individual player stats from the tournament, click here.