The 2023 National Championships will be brought to a conclusion with the second instalment of the Over 35s National Championships at Blacktown, NSW from July 5-9.

Building on the success of the inaugural O35s in Ipswich last year, the competition extends to five days from four, and will be extra special this year as the Men’s Over 35 National Championship becomes known as the Bob Harrow Memorial Trophy.

Teams from the ACT, Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia (women’s), Victoria (women's), Western Australia (men's) and an invitational team (men’s) will compete for the title of National Champions, with a sprinkling of former Aussie Steelers and Aussie Spirit players suiting up for the chance to represent their respective states.

New South Wales host the tournament as defending champions of both Over 35 categories. They defeated Queensland in both finals to sweep the inaugural Over 35 National Championships in 2022 – running out 8-0 victors in the women’s final and toughing it out in the men’s final to hold on 6-5.

Softball New South Wales will have streams from Diamond One throughout the tournament on their YouTube channel, which we will share with you as they happen. The full draw is available online via the online program, with the opening men’s game at 11:30AM of WA v ACT to be streamed.

Wednesday 5 July marks the start of a 48-game week, with the champions crowned on Sunday 9 July after the now very familiar four-game finals format. Top two remains the coveted target with a second chance up for grabs, so expect teams to leave nothing up to chance from the outset!

We’ll have daily recaps for you on Softball Australia socials and you can follow the action live where iscore is available via the O35 National Championship online program.