CPL Tracey Mosley selected in Australian softball team

CPL Tracey Mosley of RAAF Edinburgh has been selected as part of the Australian national softball squad. The squad in turn attempts to qualify for the Olympics at the International Softball Federation World Championship. Photograph by LAC Jeremy Patten

Corporal Tracey Mosley, a member of RAAF Base Edinburgh's Electronic Warfare Squadron, heard some fantastic news while on leave in Melbourne with a group of friends.

A mobile telephone message played the words she had been waiting to hear for more than four years: 'you've been selected as part of Australia's national softball squad'.

'I was hoping to make the team. Each year we play nationals in January and at the end they always name the national side. I won the batting award at this year's (competition), so I was really hoping,' said the unassuming 28-year-old, who grew up in South Australia.

'There were letters at home telling me I had made it, and they (the Australian Softball Federation) were wondering why I hadn't responded so they called my mobile to make sure I knew.

'My goal last year was to make the squad so I was extremely happy when I found out.'

In an effort to make it into the nation's top team, CPL Mosley has trained six nights a week for the past year, as well as regularly playing with her local team, the successful West Torrens Eagles.

'I was a member of the under-19s Australian side for the Junior World Series in 1991 and the senior Australian side from 1992-1995, including being a shadow reserve for the Atlanta Olympics until I took a year off to join the Air Force (in 1996),' she said.

CPL Mosley is the second South Australian to make this year's national squad, joining fellow local Melissa McGie, who has also played for Australia in the under-19s Junior World Series.

The year is certainly set to be a busy one for the Australian side - they will be playing in Melbourne against Japan as part the International Women's Series in February; the South Pacific Classic in Western Australia in April; the US Cup in Hawaii in June; and the Canada Cup in Vancouver in July. After this heavy schedule the national side will be attempting to qualify for the Olympics at the International Softball Federation Women's World Championship in July-August in Saskatoon, Canada.

'My goals now are to play really well against Japan in Melbourne and the South Pacific in WA so I can secure my spot in the world championship side in July-August and then continue to play well and make the Olympic side to go to Greece in 2004,' CPL Mosley said.

'I prefer to play third base, but I am in the squad as a short-stop and third base.' And while playing softball is extremely important to CPL Mosley, so is her Air Force career. 'I would like to stay in as long as possible, make my way up the ranks and enjoy my work,' she said.

Story by Deanna Knot