Lismore is hosting the 2024 Women's Baseball Showcase. Playing are under 12s from all over Australia in a world first “all girl” tournament- the Little League Girls National Championships. 

Three senior teams are also having playoffs, with world champion baseball players from Canada (3), Japan (5) and the United States (1) spread amongst the Australian competitors.  

Glenn Williams, the CEO of Baseball Australia was very pleased to present the Women's Showcase, “We have some really talented players in Australia, and to have some of the world's best here in the Northern Rivers, is great. Lismore has an incredible facility and it’s great to be here supported by Destination NSW and Regional NSW.

“There has been a lot of hard work by a lot of different people who are interested in growing women's/girl's baseball across the country.” Glenn acknowledged the role the Victoria Belles played in the boy's division the year before. They were an important part of the decision to introduce the girls' league.

”We have six Little League teams here from around the country competing in the first all-girls Little League Competition in the world, ever. The Little League is the biggest youth sporting competition in the world. We are thrilled to host it.”

The Victoria Belles head coach, Leah, said, “Some of these girls were on the team last year competing against the boys in the National Competition, which led to Baseball Australia creating an all-girls tournament this year.”

The girls were very excited about the opportunity to play at this level in a national competition. They were selected from teams in Bendigo and Melbourne to represent Victoria and some of the girls are only 10 years old.

Their game was close, the final score was 11-10 in a close finish with the Adelaide Seahorses. The girls reported, “We had a couple of great hits with doubles in the last innings. The last innings was crazy how it went so fast, and we had two outs and we were down. We needed four runs to win it and we came back to win.”

When asked about their experience so far, a chorus of, “It’s been amazing” and “It’s so fun” and one Belle spoke in more depth, “It’s been a great experience to get to know everybody and play baseball.”

“At home, we play a lot. We train about 5 times a week and we play 2 games. Sometimes just with friends,” the girls are serious about their sport. “We’ve got a double header tomorrow and two more days of just single games.”  

The girls gave their cheer led by their coach, “Who runs the world? Belles!” 

The Belles pictured were interviewed, and included: Eve, Cora, Isla, Maddy, Lucy, Georgia

When asked if the rain had made a difference, the girls said, “It's better,” and “It's great for sliding, as you can see!” One girl said, “There’s no baseball without rain,” to a chorus of giggles.

Adelaide Seahorses show off their mud slide trophies.

NSW Blue were also celebrating a win against the West Coast Rays.

Carmen, the NSW Blue manager said, “This is the first time for these girls in national competition, they are very excited. I think it will give a lot of other girls big opportunities for their future. We have won two games so far, that's two out of two!”

The girls were very happy to talk about the match, and Emma proudly relayed, “So we were really strong in the first few innings, we didn’t go down. We were really good at hitting - we were hitting bombs. Our fielding could have been better, but overall we won, so it was great. It was a great game.”

Talking about the rain, Riviera said, “It is super annoying at times because our games get delayed, but we are still having a lot of fun.” 

However Adele could see a benefit, “It was a bit of an advantage because the other team were making mistakes.”

Evie added, “It was quite good in the outfield because if there was a line drive or a pop fly in the outfield, it just wouldn’t move.”

The girls are determined to get as much out of the tournament as possible. Juno said, “First of all, we want to have a lot of fun, and second of all, we want to win this thing.” 

Caitlyn agreed, “We are going really well so far, and we want to go for gold.” 

The girls are sensible to the opportunity they have been given, and Evie said, “The most we can get out of this is learning. It's a very amazing experience to have at this age,”

NSW Blue team players: Nevaeh, Evie, Adele, Hannah, Juno, Caitlin, Isla, Jilly, Emma, Ashleigh, Taylor, Riviera, Miranda, Lily

The first Australian Women's Baseball Showcase was played in 2021, and the second in 2022. Glenn explained, “The third Australian Women's Senior Showcase starts this afternoon with the best players in Australia being split up into the three teams.”  

“Victoria will have one of USA’s most decorated players and 2 Japanese players, 3 Japanese players will join the Adelaide Giants and 3 Canadian players will join the Brisbane Bandits, so very exciting.”

The first two rounds of the seniors were played last night. The Adelaide Giants lost the matches in their doubleheader (one to the Victoria Aces and one to the Brisbane Bandits). The pressure will be on for their comeback over the next few days. You are invited to come down to see world-class baseball in action at Albert Park in Lismore today - the schedules are listed below: