Softball Macarthur President, Jenny Todhunter and Macarthur Shootout Tournament Director, Mark Long have announced that the 2024 Shootout will be paused to form a committee and secure funding that would see the event continue in Camden long term.

The additional time will be used to secure grants and sponsorship (both can be tax deductible) after the 2023 event was underwritten by Softball Macarthur who invested $20,000 to run the 2023 Shootout as a key component of the flood recovery rebuild and increasing membership numbers. The 2023 Shootout came in underbudget and delivered a number of broader benefits for the association’s members and wider softball and local community.

The 2023 Macarthur Shootout successfully saw the introduction of a women’s division for the first time as well as participation by Macarthur teams in both the men’s and women’s divisions. The event served as a qualifier for the Men’s World Club championships- the ISC World Tournament and Sydney based, Tropics who we wish the best of luck will travel to Canada to compete in this event in August 2024. 

The Macarthur Shootout is one of a few, if not the only event internationally that has many of the world’s best male and female players competing at the same venue concurrently.

Locally, the event ensured that the rebuild at Rotary Cowpasture Reserve Camden was completed after 3 significant flooding events. It also allowed softball to demonstrate that it can deliver an event that supports junior participation, community building and also deliver a significant economic impact for the local area with participants and spectators travelling from across Australia and overseas.

In the flood recovery process, significant work was done to re-connect with all 3 levels of local government, securing grants as well as working with sponsors to ensure softball across the Macarthur region is well positioned. Because of the NSW Government grant the clubhouse was updated and fitted out and will support the future of competitions at all levels.

The Macarthur Shootout would like to thank Softball Australia, Softball NSW, Softball ACT, Softball Macarthur and Camden Council for their exceptional coordination to bring the Shootout back after a 21-year hiatus and look forward to co-planning the 2025 and future Shootouts with each party.

To assist the interstate and international teams who have already made enquires, pausing the planning and getting a committee in place for a 2025 Shootout in the 50th anniversary year of Softball Macarthur is the best approach given the significant logistics involved.

We also thank all of the volunteers, teams and officials who made the event a success. Particular thanks to all technical officials, the late Andrew Rindfleish, Tricia and Darren Sibraa, Darrell Shephard Mike and Lis Hannelly and Kaye Greggs for their time and international experience to all 4 Shootouts to date as the technical leadership team.

A number of volunteers expressed interest in helping to organise the next event. Please email, macarthurshootout@outlook.com if you would like to join the team.

Thank you also to our sponsors and partners, Getmilk, The Strictly Limited Company, Invigorate Health and Performance, Camden Hire, Grinners Catering, Whatley Trophies, Camden Lions, Matthew Cook photography and the multiple local food trucks for their generous support. Please continue to support these groups whenever possible.

We look forward to seeing the next chapter for the Shootout as more juniors play our sport and the national teams prepare for the World Games, World Cups, 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles and hopefully again in Brisbane in 2032.

Yours in Softball,

Jenny Todhunter (Softball Macarthur President) and Mark Long (Tournament Director)