Newcastle Junior Baseball’s Little League team has been named the most Outstanding Junior Team of 2008 at the Newcastle Sports Awards, announced on Friday night at the gala ceremony at West Leagues Club.

The young Newcastle team was recognised for its performance at the inaugural National Little League Series held on the Gold Coast last June.

The U13 team won through to the National tournament after taking out the NSW Country Little League Championship in Newcastle just four weeks earlier.

Head Coach Stewart Bell, who accepted the award on the team’s behalf, said the recognition was fantastic, not only for the team but also the game itself.

“Baseball in Newcastle tends to live in the shadows of the football codes and other major sports, so to get our up in lights is fantastic,” Bell said.

“It really was a great performance by the team. Despite the limited preparation going into the National tournament the boys not only held their own but matched it with the best under 13 baseballers in Australia.”

The highlight of the Nationals series for the young Newcastle team was an extra innings game against South Australia’s representative team, Mt Gambier, which was later dubbed the “game of the series”.

With the game tied at the end of the regulation six innings, the game went into extras and both teams traded outs until bad light intervened. The game was then transferred to a nearby diamond where it resumed under lights. Play continued until the 11th inning where Mt Gambier scored in the bottom to secure victory.

“The game typified our campaign. The results didn’t always go our way, but we battle hard every game and never gave up. This award is great recognition of a very good young team,” Bell added.

Congratulations to the players and coaching staff of the 2008 Little League team.

Lachlan Brown, Morgan Clune, Joshua Halpin, Cameron Hose, Alex Lynch, Alexander Wells, Lachlan Wells (Belmont), Raffy Burling (Boomerangs), Joshua Mitchell, Tim Voigt (Phoenix), Matthew Hudson, Izaac Jones, Connor McBride, Jacob Smider (Toronto).

Stewart Bell (Head Coach), Stpehen Hook & Gary Hughes (Asst. Coaches), Chris Halpin (Executive Officer), Kristy Davies (Scorer).