Week 1, 6-12 January.
Softball State Championships U14, Waverley Softball Centre, Melbourne, Victoria
This was to be Kelsie’s third championships, following Canberra and Birisbane in previous years. This time, it dovetailed perfectly with our annual trip to the Australian Open tennis so we organised an AirBnB house in Glen Waverley to share with Tevor, Emma and Ashton, close to the Waverley Softball Centre and reasonably convenient to shops and train. We all travelled on the same day, us on Virgin and Trevor on Jetstar, but managed to land in Melbourne within a few minutes of each other.
We had organised a hire car for the week from a cut rate mob call Goldstar, which proved to be a bit of an ordeal because an airport pickup actually meant getting a shuttle bus out to the back blocks of Tullamarine to get the car. Despite the delays, we still managed to get across town some 40 kms, find the house, settle in and do some shopping for food before the sun went down in this crazy land of day-light saving. The house was a very 60s style place with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, which proved very comfortable despite being rather light on for essential items such as wine glasses and teaspoons. I am not sure how they advertise the place as sleeping 8 and then provide only 5 forks and 2 wine glasses.
Each day revolved around the softball fixtures. Our first day was an opportunity to explore Melbourne, with two late games scheduled, so we drove to Glen Waverley station, parked and took the train in to Richmond. It was Day 2 of the AO Qualifying Round so we all settled in to watch a few matches, including a bit of Leyten Hewitt’s son Cruz, do a bit of shopping in the AO Shop and generally soak up the atmosphere. Trevor and Em left to get some time to themselves while we took Ashton across the rail line to the MCG to the Australian Sports Museum. The display highlights many great moments in Aussie sports, with a big focus on the role of the MCG itself. Ashton revelled in the hands-on activites and sports quizzes, and showed off his expertise and knowledge of all things sporting (like his father). At he end of the museum time, we caught up again with Tevor and all travelled back on the train in time to change into softball support clothing and head to the first matches.
Trevor, Emma and Ashton went back later in the week to do the tour of the MCG and a BBL Match. Ashton even managed a photo with Gillchrist.
At the softball, WA had solid start, with a narrow 1 run loss to NSW Country and a big 19-4 win over ACT. It is wonderful to see Kelsie adopt a leadership part, playing at short stop. It is a great group of girls and are fortunate to have a talented coaching team.
As the week progressed, fortunes fluctuated, with losses to NSW Metro, a frustrating draw against Qld Country and wins against Victoria, SA and Qld Metro. The match against Victoria was clinical, resulting in a mercy walkoff at 17-0 and we managed a win against Qld Metro without a base being gained. A very disciplined effort.
On the Friday night, the team and supporters gathered at the Wheelers Hill Hotel, a beautiful setting overlooking the Dandenongs, to socialise together. Most of the parents have found accommodation nearby in Glen Waverley. We hardly recognised some of the girls out of their softball uniforms and relaxing in “civies”.
With the round matches over, WA was placed a very creditable 3rd, one place up from 2024 and two places up from 2023. The team has built well since Kelsie has been playing.
The first of the finals was a semi final against SA. It was a nail biter, with SA getting a solid start against us of a couple of runs and holding it for the first few innings. Eventually, WA followed up with a big innings, including a big three base hit from Kelsie, and squeeked home by a single run to claim a spot in the Preliminary Final.
The Preliminary Final went very well with a convincing win over NSW Navy, our nemisis in past competitions. Our pitcher, Gracie was the difference. No team can get a handle on her. During the round games, pitchers are restricted to three innings, but in the finals, there are no restrictions. The coaches managed her well, bringing Jade in when we had a comfortable lead, then bringing Gracie back for the final innings to make sure of it. Kelsie had a cracking two base hit and another run scoring walk. The team was Grand Final bound against the other NSW team, NSW Sky.
However, the weather looked bad. Thunderstorms were forecast, something that shuts down all outdoor events these days. The radar showed a large mass moving east through Melbourne. Later, we found that Melbourne received 25mm of rain in 30 minutes, causing considerable local flooding.
We all huddled under shelter and watched shade shelters crumble in the high winds and heavy rain that soaked the ground and made the diamonds resemble shallow lakes. Organisers hoped for a start around 5pm so the girls packed up and headed back to the their hotel to try and dry the equipment out. We decided to abandon the match and head into Melbourne to our new location for the Australian Open, and to live-stream the game later, if and when it happened. It was sad to miss, but with more rain on the radar we were not sure of the outcome.
As it happened, the rain eased enough to allow play around 5pm, once the lightning threat had disipated. Both teams would battle with wet and slippery conditions, especially the pitchers. We got a good live-stream up in our apartment, thanks to Softball Victoria and settled in to watch, not supremely confident because our girls had already played once whereas NSW Sky was fresh for the day. We got off to a shakey start, finding oursleves 3-8 down after two innings. Then a brilliant 7-1 third innings set up an amazing 1 run win.
The girls were over the moon, as were the supporters. Kelsie, as Captain for the game, went up to present the medals to her team and accept the trophy. Despite an uncharacteristic below average batting performance in the early matches, she continues to shine as an on field leader and adapts to the needs of the team. Her batting in the finals certainly came good when it was needed. Great job Kelsie.
Week 2, 13-19 January – Australian Open
Our apartment is really well located, at 220 Spencer St, right opposite the Skybus terminal at Southern Cross Station, making for an easy leave at the end of the week. It is a studio apartment on the 38th floor with all the necessary things, except a decent mattress. Why people leave sagging dead mattresses on beds in rentals is beyond me, it colours the whole review and rating when a couple of hundred buys an acceptable mattress from Ikea every year if needed. There was a sofa bed offering but they are terrible to sleep on so it ended up with the sofa bed mattress on the floor each night. Not ideal but the location makes up for it.
All around the neighbourhood are eateries, mostly Asian of some form with a great many Vietnamese and Korean. In the evening, the air is full of the smell of sesame oil and Asian spices. We have two choices to get to the tennis, walk down Spencer St to Flinders and ride the #70 tram to the gates, or walk a short distance to Bourke St and tram to Swanston, followed by a walk down Swanston then follow the Yarra along Princes Walk. The latter is more walking but much more pleasant than fighting the crowds on the tennis tram.
We did well on Day 1 (Day 2 of the Open) just buying a ground pass and getting in two magnificent matches with Aussies playing on Court 3. We saw both Tahlia Gibson and James Duckworth score much needed first round wins.
Day 2 we had seats in John Cain booked, but elected to go back to Court 3 to watch Emma Raducanu down 26th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova. It was an excrutiating match, with neither player holding serve much at all and both sets going to tie breaks. Then we headed to John Cain to see Taylor Fritz demolish fellow American Jensen Brooksby.
Wednesday was wet, which we didn’t know when we allocated it a non-tennis day. We spent the time wandering the shops, with lots of cheap clothes on offer at the Spencer Street Outlet Centre. In the afternoon, we headed to Docklands to catch the Banksy Exhibition. It is the largest privately owned collection in the World and was brilliantly displayed, each collection supported by video explanations of what had inspired the pieces or collection. I loved the “Dismaland” display with its Disney take-off of a chaotic theme park. The entire display was incredibly funny, thought-provoking and imaginative, all in one. The sections devoted to Banksy’s Ukraine and Gaza visits were particularly poignant and a reminder that the bad things aren’t going away anytime soon. Banksy’s work simplifies what politicians make so hard. Just fix it.
On our last day of tennis, we headed to Court 14 to watch the talented team of Kimberly Birrel and Olivia Godeke defeat a pair of Serbs in the women’s doubles. The great thing about the outside courts is being able to sit right up to the court and feel the power of the shots up close. The Aussie girls were the under dogs so their delight in winning was felt by the crowd and it was fun to be sitting only a few seats away from the families and coaches. It was a far cry from the big arenas. We stayed on to watch the Aussie men in Blake Ellis and Thomas Fancutt take on some higher ranked opponents but sadly, they couldn’t match the efforts of the girls. From there we headed to John Cain to see Elena Rybakina easily defeat 17 year old Iva Jovic, a possible star of the future.
On our final day in Melbourne, we took the train down to Mordialloc, a seaside location on Port Phillip. Azba, Mike and Evie drove up from their house is Mornington to meet us and we had a good catchup as well as an amazing seafood meal in the Tommy Ruff Fish Bar. This place certainly knows how to serve fish and seafood at reasonable prices. Christine’s seafood chowder was a standout dish. Az and Mike are keeping well, busy as always, and nearing the completion of their home build, a long term project. It is always good to catch up and follow their life’s journey.
It has been a two week stay for us, but seems longer. It was a very relaxed time and the move back to central city for the tennis was a good one, better than staying out and training in as we have done for the last few years. The vibrancy seems to have returned to the city, after the Covid exodus, and it is fun just to move around and discover hidden gems in the many laneways and malls. We may be back next year but who knows. A lot depends on the Softball and other adventures.
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