Broken Hill’s Masters softball team, the Jesters, have come away with a gold medal after winning the Women’s 45 Yellow Grand Final at the Australian Masters Games in Adelaide.
The week-long tournament saw the side play a total of 11 games, prevailing in the decider against Runamux with a 13-3 scoreline.
Over the course of the competition, which began on October 7, Broken Hill Jesters were entered into the 45/55 Women division, ending up with four wins, three draws, and three losses.
With the 45+ teams split after Day Six, the Jesters found themselves at the top of their division—Women’s 45 Yellow—seeing them straight into the Grand Final.
In a tight decider to begin with, Broken Hill and Runamux were tied at three runs apiece after two completed innings.
However, the Jesters got the bats working in the third inning, adding 10 runs to their score before shutting their opponents out at the top of the fourth inning as time wound down and the result was confirmed.
Every player in the Jesters lineup got on base during the Grand Final, with Leonie Wilson picking up three hits from three at-bats, while Carrie Barlow also had three hits, including a double and two home runs – the second of which was a grand slam – as she had eight runs batted in overall.
“It means everything because it’s been a hard couple of years with Covid and softball folding in Broken Hill. We’ve had no games, so we’ve had no training, nothing. And to come down here, on the other side [of that] and win gold, it’s just magnificent,” Jesters coach, Cheryl Meuret, told the Barrier Truth.
“It’s very special. Everyone was crying – especially me. It’s just meant a lot to us all. We’ve had our ups and downs over the last few years, and we’ve come through; we’re still as a team and still playing really good softball.”
Softball was the biggest sport of the 2023 Australian Masters Games with more than 1000 participants over 35 years of age. This result marks the third gold medal the Broken Hill Jesters have won together at the Australian
Masters Games, previously winning in Geelong in 2013 and in Adelaide in 1999.
