This post was originally published on this site
New South Wales shut out Western Australia in the final, 7-0, to claim the Australian U-18 Championship 2025.
Ethan Bickel, Damien Wilson and Ashton Kennedy combined to one-hit a potent Western Australia offence.
“I knew the offence we had was on fire. Our field was outstanding all tournament, barely any errors, so it was great to pitch behind them,” said Bickel after the game. “I stuck to my routine; it has been going well all week. There were a lot of nerves, but I tried to stay as calm as possible to get the job done for the boys.”
New South Wales built up an early 5-0 lead. Kobe Cusbert and Tahlan Cavill had an RBI single in the bottom of the first, pairing nicely with Josh Nati’Nati’sifice fly and making it 3-0. Matt Trainor cashed in a fourth run in the second and later scored on a wild pitch. New South Wales extended the lead on Lachian VellaVella’sr, his fifth in the Championship.
“We focused on building the core, the group [before the tournament],” head coach Phil Hemmer commented. “Guys were able to be themselves. We encouraged that, and it worked out. “That’s 20 mates right there. They win together. They lost together. They pulled tarps together. They cooked together. It was just a team.”
New South Wales players dominated individual awards.
Matt Trainor, who had a .500 batting average with eight RBIs and pitched four scoreless innings, earned the tournament’s MVP honours.
Vella, who also had 15 RBIs, earned the Golden Bat. Riley Puckett started two games, going 12 innings without allowing a run and earned the Golden Arm Award.
Shortstop Lincoln Gruppelaar was the tournament’s Golden Glove.
Western Australia, New South Wales, New South Wales Country, Victoria, def ACT, Queensland and South Australia participated in the U-18 National Championship. Baseball Australia announced they would use the event to select the U-18 National Team.
World No. 12 Australia defeated No. 48 New Zealand in December 2024 to earn a spot in the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2025, scheduled from September 5 to 14 in Okinawa, Japan.
