Sunbury’s Bronwyn Gell is hoping to add a gold medal to her collection at the 2018 Women’s Baseball World Cup.
Gell, 24, will be competing for the Australian Emeralds at her fifth world cup in Florida in late August.
Having won a silver and bronze medal at previous world cups, Gell said she would like to complete the set.
For Australian female baseball players, the world cup is the pinnacle of the sport.
“The expectation is that we are going there to win gold,” she said. “It would be a lie otherwise.
“We definitely want to come back with a medal and would be disappointed if we didn’t medal. Last world cup we came fifth, and it’s firing us up for this time round.”
Gell said they had put a lot of hours in preparing for the world cup.
She said there had been more opportunities to train and play together, both at home and abroad.
“We’ve been doing a fair amount of training together,” she said. “We’ve been training a couple of days a week.
“We’ve been playing in a men’s league and they have pushed us a bit harder, as they don’t want to lose to a team of women.
“It’s a lot of fun and a good opportunity.
“We’re also heading to Japan to train with a professional team and get that high intensity training.”
Gell has been a mainstay in the Emerald’s side since making her debut as a 17-year-old.
She said it was slightly weird that she was one of the more experienced players in the side.
Gell started playing baseball following in the footsteps of her father and brother.
Living in Sunbury, it meant a lot of travel but it was worth it as she made the state team at the age of 14, before making her senior Australian debut three years later.
“My dad used to play in Bendigo when I was younger,” she said.
“My brother then started playing and I always wanted to do what he was doing. I grew up playing tee-ball and started played baseball in primary school.
“We used to travel around a lot.
“The closest club was Essendon and at the time, Essendon didn’t have a women’s side, so I travelled out to Doncaster.
“At our club the older girls were in the Australian team and they were kind of a mentor and inspired me to get to the level I am.”
Gell currently plays with Essendon, where she is also involved in coaching. She said that was something that she enjoyed doing.
Having just started full-time work, Gell said she was getting used to combining work and playing.
She said she hoped she could play for as long as possible.
