Just four months ago, the Irish U18 baseball team didn’t exist.

Last weekend, Irish U18 baseball team won their 2017 European Baseball Championship Qualifiers pool — going undefeated in the process — to qualify for next year’s tournament proper. The make-up of the team might be one of the most interesting in Irish sport with Baseball Ireland teaming up with the Baseball United Foundation, a non-profit organisation in the United States, to build a roster with players sourced from Ashbourne to California.

Baseball United’s mission is simple, share the game of baseball around the world and, in March 2016, put out a call for players in the US to represent Ireland.

“This whole project came together thanks to our partnership with Baseball United,” says Tom Kelley, president of Baseball Ireland.

“Last week was the first time we entered a team in a competition at this age grade and we were going up against much more experienced teams in the likes of Belgium, Poland, Russia and the hosts, Switzerland. We’re in a rebuilding stage for the entire program but we want to build on this win and maintain the U18 team but there are also going to be some players aging out of that grade soon and we are going to try to transition them into the senior team”,- commented Tom Kelley.

Kelley is hoping their success in Switzerland will encourage even more youngsters — both from the diaspora and Irish resident — to team up in future tournaments.

“As well as creating an interest in the game here, we also hope it strengthens the relationship between Ireland and the US and I think Ireland has a real competitive advantage over other teams in the fact it can tap into a player pool, not just in America, but in the UK and elsewhere”.

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