FIVE students from Bass Valley Primary School (BVPS) will be representing Victoria at the School Sports Softball tournament in late November. 

After taking out the state finals in September this year, the five girls from BVPS were selected for the state team after trying out against students from throughout Victoria.

The girls have spent years training and countless weekends honing their skills to make this far, and will face off against Queensland, NSW and South Australia.

 Proud mum, Maryla Shumack, couldn’t be happier with her daughter’s efforts. 

“They started off with t-ball for the school and then they went to the state finals and won the title,” she said.

“Then they were told to try out for interstate and five of them got in.

“They tried out against everyone in the state!”

Ms Shumack said parents and the school had been raising funds to get the girls through to the interstate finals, as they must cover all costs involved. 

“We’re lucky it’s being held at Waverley Softball Association (Wheelers Hill) and not interstate,” she said.

“They’re representing Victoria and are playing from November 20-25.

“Obviously it’s not funded, we have to fund it ourselves as parents, it comes to around $1300 (per student).”

Ms Shumack said she was thankful to Member for Bass Jordan Crugnale for making a donation to support the students, and they were also hosting other fundraising events such as barbecues and raffles.

“For a tiny school, they’ve done a huge job in getting five of them into the interstate team,” she said.

The team, students, teachers and even a representative from Softball Victoria gathered at Kilcunda-Bass Recreation Reserve last week for training.

Despite the miserable weather, the girls, who are in grades 6 and 4, were in high spirits and spoke to the Sentinel-Times about their accomplishments. 

“We’ve put in a huge amount of effort to get to where we are,” they said.

“We were surprised to win the state title in September, and we’ve been training every weekend.”

The girls highlighted they loved the sport as it is team orientated and have enjoyed getting to know other students from around the state.
“To win would be amazing, but it’s been great just to get this far,” they said.