A PAIR of local baseballers have been hard at work preparing to represent Victoria against the best and most promising players in the country.

Paige Anders and Ayla McCallum from the Porepunkah Panthers Baseball Club have made the state under 16 girls baseball team, and will take on the rest of Australia at the upcoming Australian Youth Women's Championships from 15-19 April.

The majority of the team is made up of girls from Melbourne, making their inclusion a major ring of endorsement for the talent and management of the local club and the North Eastern Baseball Association.

However, their remote location means extensive travel times, heading to Melbourne three times a week for training for the last seven weeks, showing that they are committed and willing to put in the hard work required to compete at the next level.

Paige said it has been her goal to compete at the highest level she could.

“I started on the pathway to the state team by taking and opportunity to go to Sydney for the Barkley Cup, which is a friendship tournament that other states as well as Victoria participate in,” she said.

“That really helped me get my foot in the door and get a taste in the commitment and handwork that is needed to get to a higher level.

“Although it got me out of my comfort zone, it helped me know that baseball is something I wanted to pursue to the highest of my abilities.

“The try-out period for the state team was one of the best experiences I've had in baseball.

The youth team got to hold our try-outs on the front field where the women were holding theirs as well, just being around that much talent was amazing and inspiring.”

Paige said it was her dream to take to the field for the state.

“I am really excited to play all the games and see the team’s hard work finally come out on one of the biggest stage for girls’ baseball in Australia,” she said.

“After the tournament I have been invited to go to Reno in Nevada for a rising stars tournament with girls from all over Australia.

“I don’t know what's going to happen after that but I am excited for the next part of my journey and hopefully one day I could be playing for Australia.”

Ayla said she found out she’d made the team in very unusual circumstances.

“When I found out I made the team, me, my dad and my older sister Makiah were in the middle of a power outage, driving up to town every 10 minutes waiting for the email,” she said.

“Turns out I put the wrong email in on the form.

“So when I found out I made the team, it was in the middle of town, in the car on the phone to my assistant coach who told me - my sister and I now owe him new air pods with how loud we screamed.”

Ayla said she was striving to make her mark at the tournament.

“I am focused on this upcoming tournament and doing my best,” she said.

“A great opportunity that has come up is I have been lucky enough to have been invited to is to play in the upcoming Under 16s Legacies tournament in Reno this year.

“I am looking forward to doing my best and reach my potential with no regret in this tournament and the next and in my future to come.”

Paige and Ayla would like to thank Lions Club of Bright, CWA (Bright), Rotary Club of Bright and the fantastic community of Bright and Porepunkah for sponsoring and supporting them in their baseball journey.