Tropics and Panthers are the 2016 State League Champions !!! This is the first time either team has won the title.
The Men were first to take to the diamonds with Dolphins playing United and defending champions Thurabredz taking on Tropics. Dolphins were the first into the final defeating Tropics 7 – 4 in a hotly contested game and on Diamond 2 Tropics won a close game 5 – 2 against Thurabredz to remain alive. United were not a match for Tropics in the preliminary final with Tropics piling on the runs and winning 11 – 1. Going into the Final the favourites Dolphins took an early lead 6 – 1 before the tropics bats continued where thee left off in the previous game piling on 9 runs in one innings. Dolphins fought valiantly but the pitching of Harri Peters held them from scoring enough runs for Tropics to run out winners 11 – 7.
Final Placings were
1st Tropics
2nd Dolphins
3rd United
4th Thurabredz
5th Mounties
6th Titans
The Women started the day with Panthers defeating Manly Eagles 2 – 0 and Northern Storm proved too strong for the Sharks winning 9 – 2. In the Preliminary Final Manly Eagles got off to a great start scoring in the first before the Storm hit back in the bottom of the innings with 3 runs crossing the plate. Storm scored 2 more runs with the score finishing at 5 – 1 to move them into the Grand Final against Panthers. The Grand Final was a match up of 2 teams full of NSW and Australian Representatives and the game didn’t disappoint. Panthers got off to a great start with 2 runs crossing the plate in the bottom of the 1st innings, strong pitching kept the hits to a minimum before Panthers hit in 2 more runs in the bottom of the 6th. Storm headed into the top of the 7th needing 4 runs to force the Panthers to bat again and fought back with 2 runs but fell short losing the game 4 – 2.
Final Placings were
1st Panthers
2nd Northen Storm
3rd Manly Eagles
4th Sharks
5th Hills
6th Norwest Wolves
7th Phoenix
Individual Award Winners were
Rookie – Jorja Barrett (Phoenix)
Pitching – Gabbi Plain (Panthers) and Harri Peters (Tropics)
Batting – Taylah Tsitsikronis (Panthers) and Kieran O’Leary (Thurabredz)
MVP – Alli Edgtton (Manly Eagles) and Luke Ollerenshaw (United)
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