Both our U19 Men's and U18 Women's put on display five excellent five days of softball action over at Mirrabooka, WA, with this year's Nox Bailey Shield and Elinor Mckenzie Shield held in conjunction with each other between 12-16 January. 

Nox Bailey U19 Men's National Championship

Our NSW U19 Men's team remained at the top of the ladder all through the round-robin stage, registering their only defeat of the tournament on day 2 against WA. Seth Charter-Smith and Dante Machiavello were consistent in the lead-up to the Grand Final with their outstanding pitching, while Ky Hurst, Lachlan Hort and Evan Wulff dominated with the bat. 

Following a tightly contested tiebreaker win over Queensland in the pre-final on day 5, our young men in blue met Victoria later that afternoon in the Grand Final. Lachlan Hort got the scoring started in the first for NSW with a single to score Cameron Taylor. Ollie Stewart and Timothy Gleeson’s combined 5 RBIs and Joel Byrne’s nine strikeouts helped secure our 12^th Nox Bailey Shield. 

Elinor Mckenzie U18 Women's National Championship

Our U18 Women enjoyed an undefeated run at their tournament, raking up 10 wins in their 10 round-robin games. Jayda Lorrigan was exceptional with her pitching throughout the tournament, with Jessica Smith putting on a great display on the mound as well. Eliza King, Hannah Barlow, Olivia Bonello and Sophie Burnett made great contributions with the bat.

A comfortable 7-1 win against WA in the pre-final paved way for our Blue Bloods to meet them again in the Grand Final held later in the evening on day 5. Jayda Lorigan’s nine strikeouts helped keep WA from scoring, in a game that was very close until the bottom of the fifth, when NSW broke through the host’s defence to score five. The 6-0 Grand Final win gave us our 28th Elinor Mckenzie Shield. 

Grand Final Appointments & Individual Awards

NSW's Sharon Smith and Lynne Townsend were the scorers at the Grand Final of the U18 Women's National Championship, while Krissi Travers was one of our umpires who was appointed for the same game. 

Joel Byrne and Jayda Lorigan were named Player of the Grand Final in their respective games while Jayda Lorigan also bagged the Best Pitcher Award of this year's Elinor Mckenzie Shield. Hannah Barlow was named MVP of the tournament as well.