CHELTENHAM Baseball Club has a handy pitcher and big hitter in 13-year-old Shelby Roberts. He has only been playing for two years at the club in Farm Rd, Cheltenham, but has achieved a lot in that time and currently plays at the highest level possible for his age.
Dad Daniel said: “Shelby loves his baseball and is working hard towards playing for Victoria and Australia in the next few years.
“His longer term goals are to attend college in the US to ‘play ball’ and, maybe, one day get signed to the majors.”
Shelby’s commitment is obvious: He has been an integral part of the Southern Mariners baseball team, which was state champion in this year’s Little League, Cheltenham Baseball Club (state league premiers summer 2014/15 Little League,) and Cheltenham Baseball Club (2014 under 13 premiers, Dandenong Baseball Association/winter).
Shelby, who lives at Aspendale Gardens, recently received a $500 local sporting champions’ grant from federal Isaacs Labor MP Mark Dreyfus in recognition of his achievements and dedication.
Asked about his love of baseball, Shelby was circumspect: “It’s hard to say,” he said. “I like the competition; it’s intense and not boring.”
Each year Baseball Victoria holds Little League championships with the top three charter teams in the state progressing to the Australian Little League championships.
In Australia, 320 chartered baseball teams field 4500 players. The top teams at the state championships progress to the Australian Little League nationals, with the winner going on to compete as “Australia” at the Little League world championships in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, US – a high profile event telecast live by ESPN.
Shelby plays for the Southern Mariners, one of the baseball clubs in the south-east making up Victoria’s charter teams. Playing in the Little League state championships at Waverley Softball Complex in April, the Southern Mariners took out the Victorian championship undefeated over six games in three days.
The highlight for Shelby was hitting a massive three run home run to help his team come from behind to win the fifth game. “That was the highlight of my career, so far. Hitting a home run to get us into the nationals last April,” he said. “It was a big ask for Shelby as he was called up as the designated hitter from the bench while icing his thigh after being felled earlier from a wild ball off his opponent’s bat when pitching against the Eastern Rays,” Mr Roberts said.
After winning the state Little League championships, the Mariners went to Lismore in June to compete against 19 other All Star Teams in the Australian Little League championships and ended up coming eighth. The $500 grant helped cover the costs of attending the event.
And the future: “I’d like to get a scholarship to play college baseball in the US. It’s a long road but I am going to keep trying,” he said.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 16 September 2015
