Baseball NSW congratulates both the NSW Women’s and Youth Women’s squads for winning bronze at the 2026 Australian Women’s and Youth Women’s Championships at Melbourne Ballpark last 12-18 April!
Both teams gave impressive representation at the tournament, as the Women’s squad, for example, won back-to-back medals after having won gold in 2025.
The NSW Women’s team opened with a dominant 12-3 victory over Western Australia. Led by Isobel Lambert, who tallied two hits and drove in five runs, the team also played their gold-medal defense to prevent Western Australia from generating any offense.
Moreover, Lisa Nakashio, Cayla Johnston, Sayaka Mori, and Maddi Heath also collected multiple hits in the win. On the mound, Ebony Van Eynde started and threw 4.2 innings, where she allowed three runs (with one earned), four hits, four walks, and struck out three.
As reliever, Maddi Erwin threw 1.1 innings and struck out four.
In the next game, the 2025 MVP Claire O’Sullivan proved why she is one of the best players nationally as she went 2-4 with 3 RBI at the plate and took a no-hitter deep in the fourth inning as her team defeated Queensland 17-14.
On the mound, O’Sullivan threw 4.0 innings, allowing only one hit and one walk while striking out four.
The NSW Women’s bats were humming as well, scoring the first 11 runs of the game, with seven of them coming in the fourth.
Nakashio, O’Sullivan, Heath, and Ticara Geldenhuis each had multi-hit performances; Nakashio drove in four runs while Geldenhuis and O’Sullivan had three.
While Queensland attempted a comeback with six runs deep in the fifth, NSW scored three more in the sixth and seventh to go up 17-7 near the bottom of the final inning.
However, Victoria avenged their gold medal loss in 2025 with a 12-3 victory over NSW thanks to a team effort that brought them 15 hits. Four of them came from Lili Cavanagh, who also added a walk to reach base five times.
On the other hand, Maddi Heath had three of NSW’s five hits, who were unable to mount any offense against their biggest rival.
Still, the Women’s squad punched their ticket to the Finals with an 18-hit performance to beat South Australia 7-4 last 13 April.
Several NSW players delivered multiple hits, collecting 18 in all: Sayaka Mori, Isobel Lambert, and Maddi Heath had three hits; Lisa Nakashio, Claire O’Sullivan, Ivy White, and Ryleigh Delacour-Batch each had two.
While South Australia cut the lead to 4-2 in the third, NSW followed up with two insurance runs to put the game away.
The NSW pitching staff also did their part. Olivia Bonello started the game on the mound and threw 4.0 innings, allowing two runs. Then, Kara Cassidy threw 2.0 relief innings and allowed two runs, while Maddi Erwin threw 1.0 innings and allowed zero runs and struck out three.
With the win, NSW improved to 3-1 and earned a spot in the Top Four.
On Day 4 last 15 April, the Roos earned their first win of the tournament with a stunning six-run comeback and walkoff victory over the defending champions, 7-6.
After both teams finished 0-0 in the first four innings, NSW rattled off six runs early in the fifth to jump to a 6-0 lead, but the Roos replied with five runs deep in the same inning.
They also gave themselves a chance to win via Mariam Arifaki’s 1-2-3 relief inning in the sixth, and Maddy Patrick tied the game with a single on her third base knock of the game. With two outs, Arifaki then hit a double to right field to score the walkoff win.
In the stunner, Delacour-Batch, Van Eynde, and Tamryn Love put up two hits for NSW, who ended pool play with a 3-2 record.
On their quest for the gold medal game, NSW then fell 17-5 to Western Australia, who advanced to the Qualifying Final and sent the former to the Elimination Final.
In the final, NSW mounted an 8-4 comeback against Queensland to advance to the Preliminary Final, thanks in part to a standout performance from Olivia Bonello.
The Blues faced a 4-1 deficit deep in the third, with bases loaded for Queensland and nobody out.
However, NSW pulled out a double play to prevent a run and ended the inning, which kickstarted their comeback.
They then rattled off ten of the next 11 hits. Ticara Geldenhuis and Lisa Nakashio each scored a run in the fourth, cutting the lead to 4-3.
Then, Sayaka Mori drove in a two-out and two-RBI single in the next inning to put NSW up for good.
In the sixth, Isobel Lambert and Claire O’Sullivan scored two more runs to add to the lead, 7-4.
It was Bonello’s defense that set the stage for NSW’s bats. The relief pitcher threw 4.0 innings and allowed only two hits, one walk, and zero runs.
Against Victoria at the Preliminary Final, NSW came up short 8-0 and ended their 2026 AWC run with the bronze medal.
Victoria’s Allie Bebbere came up big on the mound, throwing 6.0 shutout innings and allowing only six hits and a pair of walks.
A double from Kira Kuwamoto put Victoria on the board after she scored two runs, and they scored four more runs in the fifth, blowing the game open to the tune of an 8-0 margin.
Ebony Van Eynde started on the mound for NSW and allowed four runs.
The victory pushed Victoria to the Gold Medal game against Western Australia, which they ultimately won 8-5.
BNSW congratulates the Women’s team for their run at this year’s AWCs! We applaud your heart, grit, and effort in representing the state at the national level.
We also tip our hats to the other winners and thank everyone who made the tournament a success.
Photo: Studio Honsa/Baseball Australia