Matt Fielding has excelled in a relatively new sport for him and claimed the Queensland State Championship with his Sunshine Coast School Sport Boys 10 – 12 years team. The team tied nine-all in the final against Metropolitan East to claim the title and the Barry Sanford Trophy with Metropolitan East.

The four-day competition was held in Ipswich last week after several months of training together. The teams played against six other Queensland school regions in a round robin format. Sunshine Coast won five out of six of those games just narrowly losing to Metropolitan East 8 – 10.

Sunshine Coast played Capricornia in the semi final and won very convincingly 13 -3. The final was very exciting as it was a very close game between Sunshine Coast and Metropolitan East. Sunshine Coast had the lead throughout much of the game and were two runs ahead when time was called. However, a decision was made to finish the innings and unfortunately Met East got two runners home to even up the score. The game ended in a nine-all draw meaning that both teams were awarded the championship trophy and were presented with medals.

Matthew had a fantastic time on this team and really enjoyed meeting other talented softball players from a variety of schools. He played in the shortstop position and got many batters out with his accurate fielding and fast pinpoint throws to first base. This week he is playing cricket in the Sunshine Coast Regional Trials and is hoping to be selected to represent Sunshine Coast in cricket also.

Wendy Stott