By Sean Talbot
It may have been a tournament marred by rain interruptions and delayed games, however three local baseballers ensured it rained medals for Team Victoria at the recent U16 and U18 Australian Youth Championships in Blacktown, NSW. Daniel Williams (U16) as well as Ryder Wilson and Jack Ratcliffe (U18) all played a key role in ensuring their team snagged a medal as they squared off against the countries best in the weeklong tournament held at the same stadium that hosted baseball for the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
It was a case of mixed results, as both Victorian teams came in heavily favored to play off for Gold, with the U18 team going all the way and the U16 team forced to settle for Bronze after the rain impacted the schedule so badly that the majority of the medal round for the U16 age group was abandoned and the Gold Medal awarded to New South Wales on countback in the first round.
Williams had a solid tournament, providing much needed depth off the bench of a strong Victorian team, going 2-for-8 and registering a .250 average with one RBI and making no errors in the field.
It was an especially big tournament for Ratcliffe and Wilson, both who were playing in their last underage National Championships and were looking to go out with a bang, and a bang they certainly did. Wilson, who was taking on a new role of a pitcher only was absolutely outstanding, pitching 14 1/3 innings, giving up one run, walking none and striking out 14 hitters, topped off by an 8-inning, extra-innings walk-off win against South Australia to cement Team Victoria’s spot in the Gold Medal game against the red hot Western Australia, earning himself the tournament’s coveted Golden Arm Award for the best pitcher in the process.
Ratcliffe to his credit was also sublime in his role as a pitcher and infielder, going 7-for-20 at the plate for a .350 average with seven RBIs, making multiple highlight reel and game saving plays at second base and throwing five scoreless innings for seven strikeouts, including throwing the final two innings in the Gold Medal game and making the game winning catch to secure the gold for Victoria, earning himself the Most Valuable Player award for the tournament for the second consecutive year. Not content with merely being the best player on the national stage, Ratcliffe has secured himself a spot in the DownUnder Travelers team who will soon be setting off to the USA and Puerto Rico for three weeks to play against collegiate teams and in a World Cup-style tournament against other squads from around the world.
It marks another huge 12 months for the budding superstar which has seen him snag 2x MVPs at Australian Youth Championships for Victoria, be selected in the Australian World Cup team that played in Taiwan in September 2023 while picking up a plethora of end of season awards for the Upwey Ferntree Gully Tigers in what has to be one of the best periods of achievement in recent memory, be it baseball or any other sport.
The Tigers welcome all three Tiger Cubs back this weekend as they go to work on winning Grand Finals for their respective teams within Upwey, with Ratcliffe and Wilson looking to become three-peat winners of the Division 1 championship as they square off against perennial ladder leaders Essendon this weekend.
