SWANSONG A SURPRISE

Q

After missing out on a few teams, you had given away the dream of playing for Australia again until 2016. How did you end up having a final swansong in the green and gold?

A

Another player from Cairns, Linda Gough, and I both made it that year. What happened was I had retired from Australian representative level. I was resigned to never making it to a World Cup. Linda came to me and said she wanted to make the Australian team. I offered to help and we worked together. But I never had any plan to join her. We were just having fun and we went away to nationals and both ended up being in the squad. I needed to make a decision whether I went down to training camp, or just pulled out. I spoke to my husband about it and just decided to treat it like I was going down to have some fun with my friends. Lo and behold I made the cut. Looking back on it, I think it’s because I stopped putting pressure on myself and remembered what baseball was about.

Q

Do you have a favourite memory that stands out from that time?

A

There wasn’t any one, single thing – except for the anthem. Listening to the national anthem is really quite overwhelming. It wasn’t any play or anything like that. Before the game everyone lines up together and you look up at the flag like you do in any sport. I remember having to mentally prepare myself for it because it was really special to me. That was the moment that sticks with me.