Four Redland residents were part of the third-placed Queensland Patriots open men’s softball team at the 32nd Australian Open Men’s Softball Championships last week.
Andrew Blackshaw, of Mount Cotton, Marshall Kronk, of Birkdale, Hamish Monkman, of Thornlands, and Luke VandeGriendt, of Ormiston, played in front of their home crowd at the tournament at the Redlands Softball Association grounds in Ormiston.
Leading into the finals which began on Friday, Queensland had won six out of 10 round games.
After a successful semi-final round on Friday evening, Queensland then went up against WA and defeated them 5-2, to earn the Patriots a spot in the preliminary final.
Queensland played NSW in Saturday morning’s preliminary final, but missed out on a chance to play in the grand final, losing 7-3.
In the grand final ACT defeated NSW 9-0 to take out the championship title for a fifth consecutive year.
Queensland’s Marshall Kronk was recognised for his individual efforts when he was presented with the award for Best Pitcher.
Kronk was also the sole Queenslander to be named in the 2015 All Tournament Team.
As well as the Patriots, teams from the ACT, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia contested the 2015 Australian Open Men’s Softball Championships – known as the John Reid Shield.
At last year’s tournament, held in Western Australia, the Queensland Patriots finished in fourth place on the ladder.
