By Jessica Micallef
Two Sunbury softballers have hit the biggest home runs of their young careers.
Taliah Kelly and Matthew Bedwell have won the 2018 Victorian schools Sporting Blue Awards for their softball achievements.
The Sunbury Softball Association players said they were both proud and excited to have won the prestigious awards.
Previous winners of the awards include AFL player Patrick Dangerfield and AFLW player Louise Stephenson.
Taliah said she was hoping to take her love of softball to the United States and to one day play in the Olympics.
“When I’m older, I want to get a scholarship into college ball and hopefully play there [the US] … it depends where my life goes,” she said.
Matthew and Taliah said they enjoyed playing a sport with a lower profile than most and meeting new people.
“It was something I was brought up with,” Matthew said. “It’s a bit of a unique sport as well, not everyone plays it like footy.”
Taliah said: “The amount of friendships that you make during the sport is incredible.”
Their mums, Catherine Kelly and Kathy Bedwell, said their children were worthy recipients of the awards.
“I’m super proud of both of them,” Ms Bedwell said.
“To have both winners come from Sunbury … we are the smallest association in the state, so they’ve both done really well and they both [have] put in a lot of effort so they deserve it. They’ve worked really hard for this.”
Ms Kelly said: “It’s great to see that both of them, through our local association, mentor the younger kids and it’s good to see that the younger ones have someone to aspire to … they’re both good leaders.
“They’ve both done well representing our association as well and they’ve both represented their state.”
