Illawarra baseballers in Australian Provincial Championships
Nine Illawarra Baseball League players and several team staff from the region have been participating with the Country New South Wales team at the 2008 Australian Provincial Baseball Championships that commenced in Darwin, Northern Territory last Saturday, May 24.
Players in the team include – Kaine Abbott, Nathan Allen-Jones, Trent D’Antonio, Troy Green, Blake Handley, Brendan Lower, Chris Morgan, Chase Richardson and Mitchell Thompson.
The team is coached by former Illawarra League and Illawarra Flame head coach Allan Parrott who is assisted by well respected D’Antonio brothers Ben and Dom. Team Executive Officer Stephanie Thompson doubles as the scorer / statistician.
The Championships, which are sanctioned by Baseball Australia, are played for by the Country Associations from each of the Australian States and Territories and New Zealand annually.
This year’s titles have attracted teams representing Country New South Wales, South Australia Country, Victoria Provincial, Western Australia Country and the Northern Territory.
These Championships were played in Wollongong last year and attracted seven teams.
The tournament takes the format of a round robin series over first five days there being a rest day on Wednesday, May 28. The Championship Final will be played on Saturday, May 31 commencing at 7.00pm. Olympic take points over Wolves 15s
In last weekend’s Premier Youth League round, the Wolves under 15s could not match fellow top four team Sydney Olympic and went down by 3 goals to one. The 16s turned the tables on Olympic to pick up a 3 – 1 win and move to 6th spot on the ladder.
The only other joy for the Wolves was a 1 all draw in the under 13s. Both the Wolves and Olympic remain well down the ladder in that grade. Full results for Round 13 between Wollongong Wolves and Sydney Olympic were:
Under 18: Wolves lost 1 nil
Under 16: Wolves won 3 - 2
Under 15: Wolves lost 3 - 1
Under 14: Wolves lost 1 nil
Under 13: Wolves drew 1 all Wollongong Rollers in Aussie team for key Paralympic warm-up event
Basketball Australia has announced the 11-player men's wheelchair basketball team to compete in the upcoming four-nation invitational tournament in Osnabruk, Germany. The team includes Wollongong Roller Hawks, Brett Stibners and Tristan Knowles as well as former locals Troy Sachs and Brendan Dowler.
World number one Canada, the third ranked Australians, fourth ranked Germany and fifth ranked Great Britain will compete in the demanding four day competition between 29 May and 1 June.
Teams will play each other once with the top two placed teams competing in a final and the third a fourth placed teams playing off in a consolation final.
The Australian based Rollers, including four-time Paralympian Troy Sachs, will be fresh off the opening round of the domestic league which was completed over the weekend.
The demanding tournament schedule begins with their opening game against fierce rivals Canada at 12:45pm (local time) on Friday, May 30 before facing Great Britain, now coached by former Rollers mentor Murray Treseder, at 6:45pm that evening.
Their third and final pool match is against the host nation on Saturday, May 31 at 11am (local time) before the semi-finals that night ahead of the finals on Sunday, June 1.
The team is:
Bill LATHAM/Wentworthville Wheelkings/CD Once Andalucia (Spain)
Brendan DOWLER/West Sydney Razorbacks
Brett STIBNERS/Wollongong Rollerhawks/CD Fundosa (Spain)
Dylan ALCOTT/Dandenong Rangers
Grant MIZENS/West Sydney Razorbacks
Jace CLARE/Brisbane Spinning Bullets
Justin EVESON/Perth Wheelcats/Galatasary (Turkey)
Michael HARTNETT/Perth Wheelcats
Tige SIMMONS/Brisbane Spinning Bullets
Tristan KNOWLES/Wollongong Rollerhawks
Troy SACHS/West Sydney Razorbacks
For more basketball stories and photos covering representative, wheelchair and other competition games go to http://wollongong.sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=288 Videos of local Sports on YOCTV
If you have an interesting sporting video please contact the Sportslive Director as indicated at the bottom of this column. More Stories?
For more local sports stories go to www.wollongong.sportslive.com.au
If you want publicity for your sport please contact the Sportslive Director at YouronlineCommunity office on 4254 0200 or to email click here-> | 
