Abbotsford’s Raine Padgham is heading to the land down under to compete at the Australian Women’s Baseball Showcase, which runs from May 9 to 12 in Lismore.
The event features the Brisbane Bandits, Adelaide Giants and Victoria Aces playing in a round robin that sees each team play each other twice. The top two teams at the end of the round robin will then play in the championship game.
Teams mostly consist of Australian talent, but several players from North America have been added. Padgham is the only player from British Columbia scheduled to play, but two players from Quebec will also be making the trip.
We are excited to welcome three @baseballcanada World Cup players to Australia for the professional Women's Showcase in Lismore.
— Team Australia (@TeamAusBaseball) April 26, 2024
They'll play on the @BrisbaneBandits in the @ABL event.
Read about them here: https://t.co/yHubmWEDr9
Photo: @WBSC pic.twitter.com/ceqefXJImn
Padgham and the other two Canadians are set to play for Brisbane.
She most recently made headlines by becoming the first player to sign and then suit up for the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack baseball team. Padgham will be taking a leave from the team to travel to Australia, but she will return to the team for the playoffs. TRU sits in first place in the Canadian College Baseball Conference with an 11-5 record.
Brisbane Bandits Womens Showcase Announcemnet 📢
— Brisbane Bandits (@BrisbaneBandits) April 26, 2024
Raine Padgham is the final Canadian to join the Brisbane Bandits roster for the upcoming womens showcase.
Read More Here 🔗https://t.co/3rIDeA7xCo#AlwaysBrisbane #BrisbaneBandits #BlueCrew #WomensShowcase #BaseballCanada pic.twitter.com/FUMG5EFEhc
She has also had an illustrious youth career and became the first player to ever play on a girls and boys team at the Western Canadian Baseball Championships. She went on to make the Team B.C. U13 Selects boys provincial team in 2018 and also received an invitation to train with the Team Canada women’s baseball team in 2019 at the age of 13.
In 2019 she became the first-ever girl to be named to the Fraser Valley (Abbotsford) Cardinals bantam team. She also made headlines in 2020 for throwing an 83 mph fastball at a Baseball B.C. High Performance Camp that year. She then went on to be named one of the Canadian Baseball Network’s 2020 Most Influential Canadians in Baseball list.
RELATED: Abbotsford’s Raine Padgham becomes first female player on TRU baseball team
Padgham has also represented Canada at several international events.
For more information on the showcase, visit theabl.com.au/news/showcase-hub.