Aussie Pride finish in 4th place after heart breaking extra innings loss in semi finals of World Championships!

Australia's U19 Women's team have gone down in a nail biting extra innings semi final at the World Championships in Cape Town, Sth Africa!
After defeating New Zealand in the morning, the Pride had to back up again later the same day to play Chinese Taipei for the right to contend for a medal.
The Aussie Pride ultimately lost to Chinese Taipei in a marathon 9 innings game 3-2.  The Aussie Pride never gave up and should be proud of their efforts.  Special efforts by all players, particularly Lana Tye who pitched 15 innings in total for the Pride today, including the 9 innings in the last game.
This meant the Aussie Pride finish 4th at the ISF IX Junior World Championships.

The entire Australian softball community is proud of the achievements of the Aussie Pride.
Here's how it all unfolded.

OK guys, here we go!! Aussie Pride v Chinese Taipei, past results mean nothing, its time to do our job. Lana Tye is back on the mound. GO PRIDE!!!

Chinese Taipei score in the 1st innings. 1-0 Chinese Taipei. Come on Pride.

Side away, Chinese Taipei score in the top of the 1t, plenty of game to be played Pride. Let's go. Now its our turn. Softball fans are you awake?? its really early in the morning in Australia, but let's get up and support the Pride

No score for the Aussie Pride in the bottom of the first. Here we go fans, let's get these Aussie Pride girls going

Top 2 Lana Tye strikeouts out two hitters, K2 count now at 4 in 2 innings. Casey, Meyer and Bahn up to bat. Go PRIDE!!

Good chance here Pride, two runners on, 2 out Walker up to bat.

‎2 strikeouts and a great catch by Jess Bahn retire the Chinese Taipei team in the top of the 3rd. Come on Pride, get those bats working!!

Base hit to Tsitsikronis to left field, bottom 3. one out. go Pride

Top 4, two out, two runners on for Chinese Taipei

Close call at first, Casey not happy. 1 out for Aussie Pride in the bottom of the 4th

Two runners on, 2 outs. COME ON PRIDE..... great chance here with Walker up to bat.

Great effort out there in left field by Taylah Tsitsikronis, plenty of hustle and never say die. Good job Taylah!

Runners on 1 and 2, ball takes a bad hop into Casey. Time has been called while the coaches make sure she is OK.

Walker to SS and Freegard in at 2nd base while Casey gets some attention from our sensational physio

Great defense Aussie Pride to get out of the innings. Bottom 5, let's score some runs Aussie Pride. Casey is still in the line up hitting, McGovern has utilised the DP/OPO rule. Freegard is up, then it is back to the top of the order. GO PRIDE!!

Here we GO!!! lead off single to Freegard. Great job. Come on Pride!

Sacrifice fly by Webber, 1-1 GREAT JOB PRIDE!!!

Casey being a true captain, after being hit in the face, she is back out there in the box trying to give the Pride the lead

STRIKE OUT TYE. Shuts the Chinese Taipei down. Bottom 6, 5 hits a piece. Jess Meyer up to bat. GO PRIDE

Aussie Pride is retired, hit to left field, McGovern sends Sechi home, great play by Chinese Taipei to get her out at the plate.

Bottom of the 7th. 1-1. Up for the Aussies Marina Walker, Jemma Freegard and Taylah Tsitsikronis. COME ON PRIDE!!!!!! let's go!

Bottom 7 - Ella Ross pinch hot for Pride - F8. Freegard FF6. Tsitsikronis K2. Heading into the tie breaker. GO PRIDE!! You can do this. Good defense!

Chinese Taipei score their tie breaker runner on a error. 1 out, double by the number 3 hitter for Chinese Taipei. Runner on 2.

Bottom of the 8th. 2-1 Chinese Taipei. Tsitsikronis the runner on 2nd. ONE PITCH AT A TIME AUSSIE PRIDE. You can do it!

Horne sacrifice to advance the runner to 3. Webber up, dropped a foul fly ball, come on Webber make them pay

WEBBER RBI!!!! second for the game 2-2 Aussie Pride!!

Top 9 2-2. Lana Tye has been courageous for the Aussie Pride. This will b her 15th innings of work today. GO LANA! GO PRIDE!!

Squeeze play - Controversy on the play, McGovern out discussing with the umpires. Umpires in conference.Run scored for Chinese Taipei. 3-2. McGovern is now appealing to ISF. McGovern returns to dugout run counts
Side away Chinese Taipei leads 3-2

Side away. Come on! Meyer, Bahn and Sechi. Casey is our runner

Great job Meyer, runners on the corners. 0 out. NEVER GIVE UP PRIDE!!!!

Hold your heads up high PRIDE. 4th place. Softball Australia and all the softball fans in Australia are proud of you. You have all done your country proud. To all the staff and officials it has been a long road and your dedication to this team has been outstanding. To the supporters in South Africa, thank you for being there for the girls.

Congratulations to all the players and staff for a mighty fine effort against the World's best! You can hold your heads high!!

Australia is Proud of you!!!!

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Aussie Pride start World Championship Campaign in Sth Africa!!

On the eve of their first game at the ISF IX Junior Women’s World Championships, the Aussie Pride team is ready to start their campaign to win the first gold medal for Australia. Their goal is to be playing on the last day of competition, needing to beat seven nations along the way to achieve this outcome.

Australia has medalled at two previous Junior Women’s World Championships: a bronze medal in 2007 (Netherlands) and 2003 (China). Australia first medalled in this competition in 1995 in Normal, Illinois. However, the Aussie Pride want to make their own history and with the character and determination within this team, Head Coach Paula McGovern believes this is possible.

Paula is excited about the challenge ahead and is full of confidence. “The key was the team believing that they are going to do well, have a lot of talent they just need to be in the right frame of mind”.

Aussie Pride has five players in the team who have international experience and McGovern believes this is critical to the team performing well on the international stage.  Captain, Georgia Casey (University of Oklahoma), Megan Horne (Florida International University), Ellen Roberts (University of Memphis), Stacey Webber (Tallahassee Community College) all play in the strong US college system and Lana Tye (BSC Legnano) has played in the tough Italian Softball League for the past two years.  McGovern will be looking to these players to lead the way for their teammates to control their emotions and play the game regardless of the situation.

The Pride arrived in Capetown after a travel time of over 20 hours from Australia. The team got straight into familiarising themselves with Capetown which will be their home for more than two weeks. Team officials believe it is as much about the cultural experience as it is about the softball by taking in the local attractions. However the Pride girls have never taken their attention off softball, training and playing with intensity. In the lead up to tonight’s match against Russia, the Pride girls have played three practice matches against USA (7-1 loss), South Africa (12-3 win) and Canada (2-1 win). All players have made good contributions in the practice matches, in particular Jessie Meyer, Georgia Casey and Aimee Palmer. Commenting on the match against South Africa, McGovern said “It was great to play the host nation. They challenged us early but we were pleased with how the Pride reacted, kept their heads and executed the plays we needed”. Aimee Palmer only made her debut for New South Wales at an Australian Championship in January 2011 and is now playing for the Aussie Pride after being added to the team in October. She is an example of what McGovern and her coaching staff are looking for in all 17 players during the tournament.

There are so many sacrifices that have been made by the staff and players to be ready for the first pitch tonight. Stories of success and strength have been present and have made this group a strong unit. McGovern is one person who has had to have the strength to get through challenges to take her position in the coach’s box tonight. She leads by example for her young Aussie players and shows them that no matter what is presented before them, you have to keep your head up and look forward. Six months ago she was diagnosed with a brain tumour and underwent surgery and a long rehabilitation process to ensure she was in full health to be able to prepare the team for the World Championships. There was never a moment that McGovern didn’t think that it would be possible to take her spot at the helm of the team, however she could not have done it without the support of the team management around her. Only a few hours away from the first pitch of their campaign, McGovern and the Aussie Pride team are focussed and ready to put aside the challenges of the past and play together as a team who pride themselves on teamwork, fun and passion.

The Turfhall Softball Stadium, in Belthorn Estate, Athlone, was originally planned as part of Cape Town’s 2004 Olympic bid programme. The 2400- seater stadium has contributed to the upliftment and benefit of the community at large. A part of the Table Mountain chain provides a backdrop to the stadium, housed within the Turfhall Sports Complex. The project was completed in 1999 and became the new home of the Western Province Softball Federation.

Sportz Of All Sortz.com wishes the Aussie Pride all the very best of luck in their quest to become World Champions!!!!!!

We are especially proud of Jess Bahn & Marina Walker from the Glen Eira Moorabbin Softball Association in Melbourne who we have a great connection with. Go Girls!!

See our previous article on Jess & Marina here

http://sportzofallsortz.blogspot.com/2011/06/congratulations-to-marina-jess-on-their.html

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