Young South West softball talent set to shine on national stage with nine players to represent WA Futures

They’re used to playing against each other in the Bunbury & Districts Softball Association summer competition but nine of the South West’s best young softballers are set to come together to represent WA on the national stage. Henry McIntosh, Brodi Haddon, Kobe Penman, Koby Stewart, Bailey Scott, Thomas Smith, Jeffrey Haddon, Will Cottam and Jett Willis will represent WA at the 2023 Softball Australia Under 14 Regional Championships, set to take place in Queensland from July 3 to 7. The group, who had spent the past two seasons representing the South West in Perth competitions, all tried out for the team earlier this year with every single one of them impressing selectors enough to make up the majority of the squad. The boys also typically play against each other in the Bunbury & Districts Softball Association’s summer competitions with McIntosh, Brodi Haddon, Smith, Jeffrey Haddon, Cottam and Willis all playing for Dalyellup Diamonds, Scott plays for the Wanderers, Penman playing for the Leschenault Steelers, and Stewart playing out of Busselton. The boys told the South Western Times said they were “excited” to represent WA together for the first time, learn new skills and make new friends from interstate along the way. The WA Futures U14 Boys squad will be coached by Mark Godfrey, who said it was clear there was a new generation of talent coming through in the South West. “It’s pretty much unheard of to have so many coming from the South West, usually we have one or two from Bunbury or Busselton but there’s definitely a lot of good kids down there for this age group right now,” he said. “There’s a lot of ex-State players and ex-Australian players down there and it’s funny because a lot of these kids are related to those players that came through about 10 or 15 years ago. “They’ve got the knowledge and it all comes from the great coaching and administration down there.” While going from playing club softball to playing at a State level is considered a big jump, Godfrey said he has been impressed by the growing confidence and improving skill levels among the squad. “If you compare where they were during the first few trials and training sessions to where they are now, you can see they’re coming together,” he said. “As a group, they’re really starting to look like a group that has been playing together for years so they’re gelling really well and they’ll bond even more as a team once they go away.”