{"id":3098,"date":"2009-02-17T19:17:43","date_gmt":"2009-02-18T02:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=3098"},"modified":"2009-02-17T19:22:12","modified_gmt":"2009-02-18T02:22:12","slug":"a-double-or-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=3098","title":{"rendered":"A double or nothing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hat tip, SoftballNewLA.com<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

From:
\n\"\"<\/a>
\n(click logo above for original news story)<\/em><\/p>\n

Dave Kirkpatrick | 12th February 2009<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
\nAIMING FOR THE DOUBLE: McLeans Ridges\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Nick Shailes, contemplating his next venture overseas.<\/p>\n

HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S either been too old for national youth teams, or two young to make the open side, but now is the right time for Lismore\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Nick Shailes to star in the Australian men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s softball team.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old McLeans Ridges resident should play a leading role in Australia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world championship campaign in Saskatoon, Canada, in July.<\/p>\n

Shailes has previously been named the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcworld\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best batter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and has selected in the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcall world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 team in the past two years.<\/p>\n

He spends three months of the year playing overseas and is now on the hunt for a big double \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a world series ring in the International Softball Congress and a world title with the Australian team.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been playing on the Australian team for the last couple of years, but I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t played at the world titles, because they are held only once every four years,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Shailes said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m 23 at the moment and it has been hard to make it into that open team because it has always been the wrong year. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m either too old for the junior team, or too young for the open men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s team.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Shailes will play for NSW at the national titles in Sydney next week and then start contemplating his next venture overseas.<\/p>\n

He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s switched his northern hemisphere clubs in the off-season and will leave Townline, based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in the United States, for the better-credentialed Aspen Interiors, in Saskatoon.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Townline were around the number 10 team in the world while Aspen are ranked second in the world and so there is a very good chance of winning a world series ring with them, and that is my aim,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153At certain tournaments there are crowds of between 3000 to 4000, and as soon as you get to the ISC world titles, you are looking at 6000 to 8000 in the grandstand, which is pretty crazy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, Shailes will be playing in the same Canadian city, Saskatoon, where the world titles will be held and should be able to provide the Aussies with plenty of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dclocal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hopefully, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be heading over there in early June and spend about six or seven weeks there acclimatising before it happens,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n

Australia is ranked number three in the world behind New Zealand and Canada, but Shailes said the chances of causing an upset were \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcgood\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are going in as the underdogs, but we are looking good for world titles,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n

The Australian team includes two of the best pitchers in the world in Canberra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Andrew Kirkpatrick and Adam Folkard, who hurl the ball at speeds ranging from 125km\/h to 135km\/h, and a strong batting line-up that includes Shailes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hat tip, SoftballNewLA.com From: (click logo above for original news story) Dave Kirkpatrick | 12th February 2009 AIMING FOR THE DOUBLE: McLeans Ridges\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Nick Shailes, contemplating his next venture overseas. HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S either been too old for national youth teams, or two young to make the open side, but now is the right time for Lismore\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3098"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3098\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}