LOCAL softball stars Rebecca Chapman (Redland Bay), Rebecca McEachern (Birkdale), Jeremy Jemmott (Wellington Point) and Julian Scott-Davies (Ormiston) have claimed 1st and 2nd place at the 2016 U23 Women’s and Men’s National Championships.
The group travelled to Blacktown International Sportspark in New South Wales to compete as members of Queensland’s Women’s and Men’s U23 State teams at the tournament, which was held on from July 20 to 23.
Chapman, McEachern and their Queensland U23 Women’s teammates were joined by four other teams in a bid for the 2016 Women’s title, with sides from NSW, Victoria, a US Combined Colleges team and a West Java team from Indonesia competing.
Despite a rainy start to the competition, Queensland put on an outstanding show, winning five games out of seven played leading into the grand final.
The grand final saw Queensland meet with the team from NSW, where they went on to defeat the home-side with a convincing 7-2 win to bring home the Joyce Lester Shield.
The win comes after the Queensland U23 Women’s team took home 2nd place at the 2015 tournament.
Special congratulations must go to McEachern who was named player of the grand final following the conclusion of the championship.
Jemmott, Scott-Davies and the Queensland U23 Men’s team met sides from NSW, WA and an East Kalimantan team from Indonesia to battle it out for the 2016 U23 Men’s Championship title.
Like the women’s team, Jemmott, Scott-Davies and their Queensland teammates also won five out of seven matches leading into their grand final but were defeated 8-4 by the side from NSW in the deciding match.
Special congratulations must go to Jemmott and Scott-Davies who were named as members of the All Tournament Team for the men’s competition.
