Welcome to 2020

I trust that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and are very much looking forward to getting back on the diamond. The baseball office has had a nice break and we are back, recharged and ready for the second half of the 2019/20 season. Thanks to the staff at Softball SA for a wonderful afternoon celebrating the year gone by pre-Christmas!

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the many families and friends who have been affected by the catastrophic fires that have torn through many parts of the country. This is devastating and together with the other state bodies and Baseball Australia, we are planning how the baseball community can help support these victims and assist them in rebuilding, along with contributing to the fire fighters who have fought tirelessly to save what they could. More information to follow on what we can do as a community.

We also offer our sincere condolences to the Halligan family with the passing of Fred Halligan just after Christmas. Fred was a life member of BUASA and the father of current Director of Umpiring Blake Halligan. Fred’s input into the game was exceptional, he was a highly regarded umpire and was instrumental in building the foundations of BUASA and the umpiring community.

If you are heading down to West Beach over the next month, you will see facility work is well underway as we prepare to host the professional baseball team from Korea the Lotte Giants. The Adelaide Giants have successfully signed a contract with the high performance team to bring them to SA for their spring training camp. This is an exciting opportunity for baseball in SA to have a professional team from Korea spend 6 weeks training and playing at the home of baseball at West Beach. The team arrives on the 30th January and completes their training on the 5th March. As you would be aware, Baseball SA were successful in receiving funding from the state government to assist with minor upgrades and improvements to the facility in order ensure the experience had by the Lotte Giants was a positive one and the venue meets their expectations. More information will follow over the coming weeks how the baseball community in SA will have the opportunity to watch and engage with the high performance team.

Our U16 and U18 boys state teams are primed and ready to head off to Geelong to compete in the Australian Youth Championships, starting on 10th January. Both teams have been training solidly over the past 9 weeks and I must thank head coaches Andrew Scott and Craig Powell, along with their assistant coaches and EO’s for their efforts in getting the boys game ready and in the best possible condition for the competition. We wish the boys every success while they are away and look forward to following their results over the week. For those tuning in at home you will be able follow the SA games using the Game Changer App and also keep a look out on the Baseball Australia website and Facebook page for a full game recap after each game. Baseball SA will be regularly posting all the action on social media also throughout the week.

Good luck to all teams as you head towards the business end of the season! See you on the diamond!

Thanks

Sarah Kelly
Baseball SA General Manager