The Australian team for the World Cup will be selected following the U18 Men’s National Championship held at Blacktown International Sportspark from 8-14 December.

Selectors have a chance to cast their eye over the state teams before making a final decision on the team of 16 to don the green and gold across the Tasman for the Junior Steelers.

While the tournament in Blacktown is the last chance for players to put their hands up for selection, newly appointed Head Coach Adam Rindfleish says the Men’s Coaching Panel have been keeping a close eye on tournaments throughout the past few years.

“It’s a combination of a lot of things that will make up the final team, the key players around the country have been earmarked for a long time,” said Rindfleish.

“They’ve competed at Nationals, Friendship Series, they’ve been on tours over to New Zealand in friendly matches just under 12 months ago, but the very last of the selections to be made will be at the Nationals in December.

“So it’s not just going to be if you play well at Nationals, you get to go, it will be a combination of all those previous tournaments where they’ve shown their various skills and talent.”

About the National Championships

The Summer of Softball begins early this year with the U18 Men’s National Championship played at Blacktown International Sportspark from 8 – 14 December 2019, followed by the Open Women’s National Championship and U14 Girls’ Regional Championship from 4 – 10 January at Mirrabooka International Softball Stadium in Perth, Western Australia.

The U16 Boys’ and Girls’ National Championships take place at Waverley, Victoria from 4 – 10 January, the Open Men’s National Championship and U14 Boys’ Regional Championship are held in the nation’s capital at Hawker from 12 – 18 January before the U18 Women’s National Championship wraps up Australian titles back at Blacktown International Sportspark from 19 – 25 January.

International softball then takes centre stage at Blacktown with the Asia Pacific Cup from 30 January – 2 February, ahead of the exciting Summer Slam – Fully Loaded Softball from 3 – 5 February.

Tickets for both events are available for purchase now via Humanitix.

To purchase tickets to the Asia Pacific Cup, please visit www.humanitix.com.au/2020-asia-pacific-cup.

To purchase tickets to the Summer Slam – Fully Loaded Softball, please visit www.humanitix.com.au/2020-summer-slam.