DOMINANT COUGARS ON PROWL FOR TITLES
GOLD Coast Cougars junior baseballers are only a few more wins away from booking their ticket to the World Series after a dominant performance at the state titles.
The Cougars were only six runs away from a remarkable clean sweep after taking out the Little League division one and division two state titles, the Junior League division one state title and the Junior League division two silver medal after a 9-3 loss to Brisbane Metro at the weekend.
Gold Coast executive officer Shelly Smith believes the team’s lofty ambitions is the reason behind the district’s best performance in state title history.
“When we sat down at the start of the representative season to set out goals, the boys went straight to the goal of wanting to go to the World Series,” she said.
“They completely skipped states and nationals and went straight to the goal of making worlds but then we had to work through the stages to get there and we’ve ticked off states. We’re riding on the back of the success of our (2018) Gold Coast Little League baseball team who represented Australia at the World Little League.”
Not even a bat scandal could stop the Junior League division one Cougars from being the standout team of the state titles as the boys ground their way to a 10-0 win over Brisbane Metro.
“There’s some bats you can use and some you can’t and Brisbane Metro were questioning one of our bats,” Smith said.
“It stopped play for half an hour but they were really clutching at straws and probably thought they could get to us mentally but we came out firing with the bat.
“Our pitcher, Oscar Hyde, was amazing and completely shut them out with 10 strike outs.”
With their wins, the Little League division one and Junior League teams booked their trips to the Australian championships where, if successful, they can qualify for their respective world titles in the US.