Junior baseballers set to shine on home soil

FAR North Coast will field teams across four divisions in its annual Timberjacks baseball carnival, with the tournament recognised as one of the sports longest-running regional competitions in the country.

It will be held at the Albert Park Baseball complex, Lismore from July 11-13.

Teams from the Far North Coast, Brisbane and the Gold Coast will contest the tournament across the under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-20 age groups.

The focus is on participation and another pathway for Far North Coast juniors to play in a major tournament at home.

“This is one of the few facilities in Australia that has four diamonds and it’s an ideal place for tournaments,” an FNC Baseball spokesperson said.

“The junior tournaments are a major financial boost, and the association has a great reputation in hosting and sending teams away for competition.”

The carnival started with four Lismore teams in 1980 and has grown to include state and national players.

It has even hosted overseas players with visiting teams from Guam and New Caledonia.

The Far North Coast association has worked hard to play a regular competition and field representative teams in carnivals since the floods in 2022.

The Timberjacks carnival returned last year, after repairing extensive flood damage, and the complex has also hosted national tournaments for juniors and seniors.

The under-20s were the success story of 2024, winning their division with a well-balanced and skilful outfit.

FNC teams have won recent tournaments with the successful women’s team at the NSW Country titles at Illawarra, while the under-16 boys finished second.

Timberjacks is a free event sanctioned by Baseball NSW with spectators welcome to attend.