Lewis Weldon has blossomed into a multi-sport star. At 27, the baseballer and softballer has hit his career peak, shown in his impressive form for Sunshine Eagles in Baseball Victoria summer league division 2 and his continued rise in the Victorian softball team.
Weldon initially found it tough to juggle the two sports, but it’s become second nature.
“I used to really struggle,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for long enough that I find it’s pretty quick to adjust now … softball is underarm, baseball is overarm, so it’s just a matter of getting your eye in from the release point.
“The fielding is pretty much the same, it’s just making that adjustment when you hit.”
It’s softball that has allowed Weldon to experience sport on a world stage. The Werribee resident has played club softball in the United States for six years, and through that landed a spot for a club team in New Zealand.
He often travels to Auckland to play with the Maisey Roosters.
And it’s softball that will give Weldon the chance to play internationally for Australia.
“The Auckland league is extremely rich in pitching and has big hitting line-ups, so it’s really top quality ball,” Weldon said. “It’s like anything, in cricket you might spend time in the nets, whereas softball you need as many at-bats as you can get to improve.”
The coming months will be huge for Weldon’s softball career. The number one Victorian catcher wants to impress national selectors to make the team for next year’s world series.
Weldon will get a chance to thrust his name forward when Australia plays Argentina, Japan, New Zealand, Samoa and Czech Republic in tests in February.
“If I play well that weekend, it will give myself a decent shot of making the world’s team,” Weldon said.
In between softball commitments, Weldon is a key player in a Sunshine baseball team that has summer league promotion in its sights.
While he’s missed some games due to softball commitments, Weldon’s numbers stack up, and there is no doubt his catching and batting abilities make the Eagles more threatening.
Weldon’s ability to adjust to three front-line pitchers in Jared Van Hoon, Griffin Weir and Tayler Rowe impresses coach Grant Weir.
Weldon says the quality of the Eagles’ pitchers makes it easy on him.
“They throw good spots, they don’t miss too much,” Weldon said. “It’s easy to call the game knowing they’re going to hit the spot, so it’s pretty easy to control.”
Sunshine has struggled a bit in the batters box, but pitching and defence are peerless. If the Eagles can improve offensively, they should be in with a shot for top spot.
Sunshine had a 7-0 win over Port Melbourne on Saturday and face ladder-leader Werribee Giants in a blockbuster at President’s Park tonight at 6pm.
Then they take a trip to finals contenders Upwey-Ferntree Gully on Sunday at 3.30pm.
