The World Baseball Softball Confederation WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup was held in Italy in July, and the Australian squad that attended included three players from the Ku-Ring-Gai Stealers Baseball and Softball Club.

Lola Joffee, Eva Kunce and Gabriella Nutman proudly donned the green and gold jerseys to represent their country on the world stage, against the toughest softball competition on the planet. The girls showed impressive form in the opening round, starting superbly with a big win against Singapore 11-0 in their first game and then defeating Czechia 9-4, before losing in a nail-biter against Chinese Taipei 8-6 and then to the world greats Canada and the USA.

While they didn’t win a medal, the girls see the experience in the context of a longer-term goal – a concerted journey to a potential Olympic appearance at Brisbane 2032.

“Being from Australia, on the other side of the world, we have the opportunity to travel during everybody else’s summer and gain exposure to the rest of the world,” said Australia’s Head Coach Amanda Reggie Fairley. “The girls are learning. We went seven innings against USA, and we were the first team to do it all week. I think it’s a pretty good effort from this group of girls that have come together recently.”

Gabriella Nutman, who started five games at second base for Australia, is one of those hoping this tournament is the first taste of many exciting experiences on the international scene going into the future. Amazingly, it’s Gabi’s first year playing softball – although she has played baseball since she was four – but she’s fallen in the love with the sport and is excited about the future.

“We had the opportunity to come here and face teams from all over the world,” Nutman said. “It has been such a great experience.”

“The team has held their head high and played every pitch, every out to the best of their ability,” she said. “I love the girls, I love the people and I love the support. I love how everybody backs each other.”

Ku-Ring-Gai Stealers President Shaun Joffee followed the squad to Milan to see them play. “I’m incredibly proud of my daughter every time she steps up to the plate, but seeing her and her friends representing their country like that just took it to a whole other level,” Shaun said. “This was a fantastic opportunity for the girls to compete in international softball at the highest level and the WBSC has built a wonderful tournament.”