GB Senior Baseball & Senior Women’s Fastpitch teams shortlisted for 2023 UK Sport PLx Award

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – UK Sport today announced the shortlisted nominees for the 2023 PLx Awards, with the Great Britain Senior Baseball Team and the Great Britain Senior Women’s National Fastpitch Team, supported by BaseballSoftballUK, shortlisted for the Collaboration and Teamwork Award.

BaseballSoftballUK works across both the Senior National Teams on behalf of the British Baseball Federation and the British Softball Federation. The award presentation will take place on the evening of Tuesday 28 November at the PLx Conference in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The PLx Awards are part of UK Sport’s annual PLx Conference, a yearly event for leaders from the high-performance community to connect, collaborate, and learn. The awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of those who contribute to making extraordinary sporting moments happen. Great Britain Baseball & Softball supported by BaseballSoftballUK have been shortlisted for the Teamwork & Collaboration Award along with British Cycling and British Rowing.

Great Britain Baseball had a historic year, starting with the programme’s debut at the World Baseball Classic in March and concluding with a European Silver Medal. GB Baseball’s win against Colombia at the Classic was their first win in WBC play and secured an automatic berth in the 2026 edition. The team then won the programme’s third-ever silver medal in European play, and first since 2007, at the European Baseball Championships in Czechia in September.

The GB Senior Women’s Softball Team programme has entered the world conversation as one of softball’s premier national teams. Coming off the Softball World Cup Group Stage this summer, which saw Great Britain defeat then-world ranked #3 team Chinese Taipei and 2020 Tokyo Olympic participant Australia, Great Britain Softball has never been in a stronger position to qualify for the Olympics.

Both the Great Britain Senior Baseball Team and the Great Britain Senior Women’s Fastpitch Team are on a trajectory that will enable them to compete with the world’s best teams both in the short term and for years to come. With the return of baseball and women’s fastpitch softball at the LA28 Olympic Games, the synergies between the two programmes are vital in preparing the teams to be the best tactically, technically, physically, and mentally that they can be.

Commenting on the nomination, BaseballSoftballUK Head of Performance Gary Anderson, who works across both of the National Team Programmes, said, "These awards are very special as they are part of and voted on by the UK's high-performance community, and to be recognised alongside such worthy nominations and dynasty winning sports is testament to the hard work of all the coaching team, support staff and players."