This month, Cronulla Sutherland Junior Baseball Association sent a full team to the Queensland Girls State Championship.
This event was a huge success and gave the girls another opportunity to compete at a high level, before the year ended.
Coach Stephen Kelly offered some really great insight into how the team went. In his recap of the tournament, he started by saying “Thank Baseball QLD for holding this tournament and allowing us to participate and enter a team in from NSW.”
The two-day tournament displayed exceptional baseball and Stephen believes that “all the young ladies in each and every team should be extremely proud of their efforts and hard work.”
“I am beyond proud of the Girls from CSJBA. For these girls, it was their first experience of tournament baseball and WOW they blew it out of the water!”
“They all worked so hard for each other, in each and every game. [They] never gave up, the learning and development from Day 1….. when we got together in early October to now, is just amazing.”
The girls were very successful at the tournament, coming away taking home the gold! “Winning was the icing on the cake and without each and every one of these girls it would not of been possible to take it out and for me I hope all the players know that!”
“This is only the beginning and I can’t wait to see where each and every player ends up, remember girls of what you
have achieved and what you can achieve when you work hard and put your mind to something.”
Stephen finalised his message, saying “I want to thank CSJBA and my Club East Hills for all their support of me and the girls team. This has been a work in progress for a while now and to see it finally take off has given me goosebumps.” Baseball NSW are extremely proud of the efforts that local volunteers and coaches have put into furthering our girls programs and the opportunities they have to play, this year!
Stephen was asked by one of the players after the last game “are you crying?” to which he answered “no” …. he said “lucky I had sunglasses on…. the emotion and happiness I felt after the last game was something I have never felt before and it’s because of this bunch of young ladies.”
“To say that I am proud of these girls would be a huge understatement and I want to thank them for allowing me to be a part of something so very special.” A final message from one very proud Coach.
Thank you Stephen for your words and we can’t wait to see these young girls continue excelling in their baseball!
