Softball Australia

Esther Deason Shield gets underway

18 April 2011

The rescheduled Esther Deason Shield, U17 Girls' Championship got underway today under blue skies at Jells Park, Melbourne.

Day one conditions were a stark contrast to the initial Championship which was scheduled for Brisbane in January, but was cancelled as a result of the Queensland floods.

Teams were eager to get underway after preparing for this Championship for many months now. Home team Victoria was denied the perfect start defeated by South Australia in the first game of the Championship.

South Australian leadoff batter Jordan Lambert could not have hoped for a better start giving her team an early 1-0 lead after capitalising on early nerves from the local team. The game evened over the next two innings with neither team able to score. South Australian young gun Stephanie Trzcinski stretched her teams lead to three after being called into bat, hitting a single to bring home Kelsey Knucky and Natasha Venning.

Lamberts second run of the game coming in the bottom of the fifth all but sealed the game for her team. Victoria tried to get themselves back into the game but could only manage a single run in the top of the sixth as the game finished 4-1.

ACT currently sit atop of the Championship ladder winning both of their games today. Their first victory came at the hands of West Australia in a high scoring game. West Australia scored in the first innings and held ACT scoreless. From that moment ACT sparked into action scoring in every innings from then on and by the end of the fifth innings held a 6-1 lead.

West Australia gallantly fought on scoring three runs in the sixth but the margin was too great as ACT scored once again running away with a 7-4 victory.

ACT were restricted for runs in their second game as they met Victoria who were looking for a stronger performance than their earlier game. Victoria held ACT scoreless until the fourth when ACT scored two runs. Victoria hit back in their final bat with Jayde Gardiner scoring off a Jessica Strauss single but could not manage another run going down 2-1.

New South Wales title defence commenced with a commanding win over West Australia, winning 8-0. New South Wales opened their shoulders scoring in every innings. winning after the fifth innings due to the run ahead rule.

Another of the strong title contenders, Queensland, won today in a tightly fought contest against South Australia winning 1-0 in the eighth innings.

Play continues tomorrow from 9:00am.

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