WA secures finals with win over Victoria on third day of national softball championships

WA has moved into third place at the 2023 National Softball Championships in Perth after splitting results on day three of the tournament.

WA is searching for its first championship since 2009. After mixed results on the first two days of the competition, that trend continued into day three.

They faced defending five-time champions Queensland again on Monday but could not replicate their spirited effort from their first encounter as they were outclassed 15-1.

WA didn’t score until the bottom of the fourth by which time they were already down by seven runs and would require something miraculous to turn it around.

But Queensland never gave them the chance, piling on eight runs in the fifth innings as Geraldton’s Liam Meharry struggled after coming in to pitch at the end of the third innings, giving up 10 runs across his 2.1 innings.

WA did manage to bounce back in their later game against Victoria, who they had lost to 6-2 in their opening game.

They were behind early, trailing 2-0 at the bottom of the third before Jy Thurstun got a hit and stole a run as WA scored four to take the lead.

WA added another run in the fourth before Thurstun got a walk in the fifth, allowing him to score off Geoffrey Kerr double for his second run of the afternoon as WA eased home to win 7-2.

This takes WA’s tournament record to 3-3 and they sit third on the ladder behind New South Wales and Queensland, who have both lost just one game each.

With ACT sitting winless after their six games, WA has secured a spot in the finals but will need to win both their games and hope New South Wales loses to Queensland to have a hope of finishing in the top two to secure the double chance.