Australian Baseball League: Canberra secures the 6th and final spot for the inaugural season of the reborn league, joining Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The ABF has also launched the "Name Your ABL Team" competition, offering fans the chance to nominate the names and colour schemes of the six franchises.
2009 World Cup: Australia completed their run in the World Cup with their best ever finish in the tournament: 5th. Despite this result, they failed to improve their IBAF World Ranking, staying in 11th position behind Puerto Rico
From the Editor
I just want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a (belated) Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, that the holiday season so far has been good for you, and that what remains will be just as good, if not better.
I'd also like to thank everyone who has been involved with the task force over the last year. I'd ask everyone to keep up the good work, and to invite anyone they can think of to join us: there's always room for more here.
This newsletter was composed by Afaber012 . If you would like to contribute to future newsletters, please leave a message on the newsletter talk page. If you don't wish to receive this newsletter anymore, please remove your name from the subscribers list on the mainnewsletter page.
Welcome to the newest member of the task force, baseballclarity. Though they haven't been active in recent days, its always good to see a fresh face round these parts.
This newsletter was composed by Afaber012 . If you would like to contribute to future newsletters, please leave a message on the newsletter talk page. If you don't wish to receive this newsletter anymore, please remove your name from the subscribers list on the main newsletter page.
News from the diamond
Claxton Shield: Congratulations to the Victoria Aces for winning the trophy once again, the state's 22nd title. Commiserations to the other teams, particularly to South Australia who made the finals series only to be beaten two games to nil. Though the new league will be commencing this summer, the Shield will still be awarded to the champions, as was the case during the previous incarnation of the ABL.
Australian Provincial Championships: The Australian Capital Territory beat teams representing Country New South Wales, Northern Territory, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, as well as New Zealand in the Australian Provincial Championships held during April in Geelong.
Australia Women's Championships: Western Australia won their first title at the Women's Championships on the Gold Coast in April.
Australian Schools Championship: New South Wales took out their 11th title in the Schoolboys Championships, held during May in Perth.
World Junior Baseball Championship: Australia took out second place at the 2010 World Junior Baseball Championship in Thunder Bay, Canada. They went down to Chinese Taipei in the final, but not before beating tournament heavyweights Cuba and USA. It's the best result for an Australian team in the tournament's history, and the first Australian medal since 1995.
Australian Baseball League: On 19 May, the new league had its primary brand launch. Some of the details can be seen at the Australian Baseball Federation's website - www.baseball.com.au - or you can take a look at the brand spanking new website just for the new league: www.theabl.com.au. Earlier this month the new team's names and logos were announced, and work has already started on the new articles for the league and its teams.
Welcome to Qwertyqwas, the newest member of the task force. They've already made some great contributions, particularly to the various ABL roster templates and to the Sydney Blue Sox article. Keep up the good work!
The Bill Ponsford article has been selected for inclusion in Wikipedia:Version 0.8; a collection of articles packaged together for offline release.
As always, if you've got an idea for the newsletter or for the task force as a whole, please add it to the task force's talk page.
Featured content
The following articles have been promoted past start-class, or included in the task force's scrutiny, since the last edition:
This newsletter was composed by Afaber012 . If you would like to contribute to future newsletters, please leave a message on the newsletter talk page. If you don't wish to receive this newsletter anymore, please remove your name from the subscribers list on the main newsletter page.
Congratulations to the Australian Women's Team, who finished in 2nd place at the 2010 Women's World Cup in Venezuela in August. It surpassed the 4th place finishes at all three previous World Cups. Congratulations especially go to Laura Neads, Christina Kreppold and Kim McMillan for their selections in the tournament All Star team, and to Katie Gaynor for leading the tournament with the most RBIs. As a result of this silver medal, the team is now ranked 3rd in the world behind Japan and United States.
The final edition of the the Intercontinental Cup was held in Chinese Taipei in October. Cuba won the tournament, beating Netherlands in the final for their 11th IC title. Italy took out the bronze for their first ever medal at an Intercontinental.
"The Australian baseball public really deserve this."
— Comment from a fan at the ABL's opening night between Sydney and Canberra.
News and announcements
A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. Things have been a little quieter around hear, no doubt due to the holiday season. With the first ABL postseason coming up, let's see if we can get things going again.
As always, if you've got an idea for the newsletter or for the task force as a whole, please add it to the task force's talk page.
Featured content
The following articles have been promoted past start-class, or included in the task force's scrutiny, since the last edition:
The regular season for the ABL has come to a close, and the Sydney Blue Sox have finished in first spot earning two guaranteed home finals series. They'll face the Perth Heat in the major semi, where the winner will go straight to the championship series and the loser will have a second chance. The Adelaide Bite will host the Melbourne Aces in the sudden death minor semi. Commiserations to the Brisbane Bandits and the Canberra Cavalry, both on missing out on the finals, and on not getting to play the makeup games from round 9, cancelled because of the Queensland floods.
Perth and Sydney split their season series 4–4, with the Heat sweeping 4–0 playing in Sydney. Adelaide convincingly won their season series with Melbourne 7–1, including a 4–0 sweep in Adelaide.
This newsletter was composed by Afaber012 . If you would like to contribute to future newsletters, please leave a message on the newsletter talk page. If you don't wish to receive this newsletter anymore, please remove your name from the subscribers list on the main newsletter page.
"We did what you have to do to win. We got three very good starts, we played some outstanding defence and the bats came alive and we peaked at the right time."
New ABL-themed userboxes are now available to go on your user page. Each of the six teams have a standard one ready to go, while the Blue Sox have an additional one using the crowd chant as heard on Triple H FM. If fans of the other teams want a similarly adjusted userbox, let me know and I'll have it up as soon as I can.
As always, if you've got an idea for the newsletter or for the task force as a whole, please add it to the task force's talk page.
Featured content
The following articles have been promoted past start-class, or included in the task force's scrutiny, since the last edition:
Congratulations to the Victoria Blue team, defeating New South Wales in the final at Narrabundah Ballpark in Canberra to claim the National Championship. Country New South Wales defeated Western Australia to claim the bronze medal.
Australian Provincial Championships:
After the finals were washed out at Blacktown Olympic Park in Sydney, Western Australia were declared champions at the conclusion of round robin play. They finished in a three-way tie with Country New South Wales and Victoria with a 3–1 record, but finished ahead having given up fewer runs. With its head-to-head win, Country New South Wales claimed silver and Victory bronze.
This newsletter was composed by Afaber012 . If you would like to contribute to future newsletters, please leave a message on the newsletter talk page. If you don't wish to receive this newsletter anymore, please remove your name from the subscribers list on the main newsletter page.
