Harrington Park’s Gabrielle Plain has hit the ground running this year, moving to the United States of America to accept an athletic scholarship to play college softball at the University of Washington in Seattle. 

The champion softball pitcher who has played for the Harrington Park Scorpions Club and represented Australia in the Under 19’s team is thrilled with how her season is going in the US. 

Gabrielle told the Oran Park Gazette, “Life at the University of Washington has been incredible. I’ve made so many friends that have supported me throughout the year. I’ve been doing really well in my classes, which has set me up for the rest of my time here, as the Freshman year is the hardest to become settled in. I’ve played a lot more college softball than I was expecting to play within my first year here. Overall, it has just been absolutely amazing”. 

Plain’s highlights this year with the ‘Huskies’ include multiple weekend sweeps against competitive college teams and having a perfect game against Utah, which she describes as “something I could never have done without my team’s backup”. Getting through the Regionals and now Super Regionals have also laid the platform for the road to the College World Series, which she is aiming for. 

With the level of softball competition in the US different to that in Australia, Gabrielle’s experience playing in the college system is already improving her game. “In Australia, we have multiple levels of softball that you go through, each leading to the next. To play the highest level of softball that you can, and therefore as much softball as you can, you have to start from the bottom and work your way up. In America, they have only one major tournament when you get to the college level, with some pre-games before you get there. You’re playing at the top level over the course of many months with multiple games a weekend. The intensity for that amount of time is much higher” she explained. 

Gabrielle’s goals this year are to give it her all, both competitively in softball and academically with achieving good grades. She is working hard towards making the Australian Open Women’s team back home for years to come.