Welcome to the RAP, a weekly podcast covering women's sports news.

Bez, what have we got around the grounds this week?

This is afl W Grand Final is set.

It's a real bit of last year.

Boy, not that exciting, but kind of deserved I think based on performance.

I agree.

Bob Slederbree Walker has claimed another podium finish on the World Cup circuit, and Ossie Young Guns Steffi Fayesh and Jasmine Fleming finish in the highest place of our Australian contingent at the Beach Volleyball World Champs.

For the key story, we discussed the new professional Women's Baseball League set to launch next year in the US and how nine Ossie women have been drafted for its inaugural season.

Cool excellent, that's really really cool.

Hey we are it's Tuesday.

We record on a Monday, but it's now Tuesday.

While you're listening to us, we are on our way to bris Vegas.

Trivia is happening tonight.

If you tu gets still left, we will be at the Transcontinental Hotel having a Q and A with Kate Campbell.

Come get your women's sports fan club tea, have a beer, play some trivia.

See you there, grab yourself a game as well while you're there.

It is an awesome game and it is a perfect Christmas present.

Santa loves giving women sports trivia to people.

Santa's actually told us that.

Yeah, spoke to him.

I had to get through the else first, but I got there eventually.

Wow, good from you.

Can you ask Fred doesn't really get Santa yet.

Oh he'll get it, don't you worry.

He would all understand Santa.

New Athlete episode this Thursday, lisas to lak a dropping.

Yes, cricket, how good?

Love a bit of cricket.

Interesting chat with her cloth in regards to kind of almost also post cricket life.

Yes, she's been super busy, super busy, super busy.

She's obviously very well known in the media common space as a pundit in the cricket space.

Also set up her own business where she's taking people on tours.

I want to do that, like you can go with them on a tour to go watch the Cricket World Cup.

Yeah, we need to set this up.

Yeah, we need to chat.

We've actually kind of spoken about this briefly in regards to the new WSLL league, this surf league calendar next year, there's a really nice little Margaret River stop in about April next year.

Excellent.

I love that.

We'll do some wineries.

You can see it.

The logistics pick.

Off all of my expert fields wineries and surfing and.

Wineries.

That three this three expert fields.

My name is Chloe Dalton.

I'm joined every week on the show, but my co host Bez, we're recording on gaggle Land.

Let's take a look around the grounds.

In Bob sled Ossie Bob Sledder.

Bree Walker has kicked off the International Bob sled season in style, securing a bronze medal on the newly rebuilt Olympic track in Cortina.

Dan Petsal nice that where is that?

That is in Italy?

Remember we got our pasta?

Oh so yeah, that's how does it work?

Is it across two locations?

I believe so yes.

I've been wondering about that every time the upcoming Olympics.

I think at it?

Is it Milano Cortina?

I believe so yeah.

It sounds like a car an old one.

Let's see this is my black and white TV days it is anyway, that track is the venue for the twenty twenty six Olympic Winter Games, which will be here before we know.

It's very exciting.

Walker opened with a strong first round of fifty nine point eighty five seconds, placing her fifth in the first heat in a second each.

She de livered the second fastest time of the final run to give her a combined total of one point fifty nine point six to three and a thirteenth career podium finish.

The batter for silver came down to me fractions of a second, with Walker finishing just point oh one seconds behind Casha.

Love of the USA.

That is just such a tiny so tiny's very minute, bit of a minute.

That's a brutal sport.

Yes, a minute.

She should have a second really.

Tucked her little helmeted head in a tiny out a bit.

Yeah, don't message and give us.

I also think that you know how you're going to get tense you do this.

But also so she's not on a skeleton.

She's on a bob.

Oh yeah, she's in a bole going so mixing up my sliding sports.

I was really trying to get the visual there of the neck and then I was like, hang on.

Imagine if you threw yourself out of the bob slid like like the bikers throw the bike across the line.

How they go backwards and the bike goes forwards.

Germany's law Nalty claimed gold, throwing her bob sled over the line and edging out Walker five point one six seconds.

All the technical sports advice, you've come to the right place in AFLW.

Holy moly, that was a game.

I missed it.

It was a game.

Yeah, I probably should have an adjective, but it was awesome.

I thought I really thought the D's were going to get it done.

Yeah I had.

I kept an eye on the score, but I was out and I missed it, but took us through it.

I was I saw something.

I think the D's shared leading after winning their SEI final last weekend, and it was kind of the message of why not us?

And I guess that why not us.

Message probably in behind closed doors meant a lot of things, but to me, it meant, well, why shouldn't we be the one to break North's winning winning streak?

Which I would have picked them to be the one, And they obviously went pretty close to doing it, and they had They were leading for most of the game.

I think it was was at thirty two thirty at halftime, it was a really tight contest.

Like even seeing the stats at halftime, like pressure was really similar, really similar level of disposals and handballs, and I think it was like fifty to fifty territory split.

Interesting for time and forward half like it was kind of it was quite amazing how well balanced the two teams were, and just I think just watching the game, to me, the level of skill execution across the board from both these teams, like they're just good.

They're just good footy players, aren't they.

Good game of footy, good game of foot So the D's got out to a really fast start, they led until three quarter time.

Yeah, Northolman came back in that fourth quarter to claim a forty six to thirty six point victory.

We've got a point here to discuss the week off conundra.

You know, do you can you win it, win the flag without the week off?

Has it?

What are the stats?

Do we know?

Has anyone done it?

I'm sure?

Well let's go with no.

But I kind of want to play Devil's advocate because everyone says the week off is important, and I guess to this point you would say that the Kangars finished stronger because they had a week off and they were fresher when they got to the fourth quarter.

But the flip side of that is these were running off last week's good result and they started quicker.

Yeah.

Right, the Kangars took time to get going because they'd had a week off.

Yeah.

I feel that there's a bit of pros and cons for both.

Yeah, I hear you.

I don't know if I've ever had a week off.

What about when the Baker's got to the Grand Final, don't you?

Yeah, I know, I just I was trying to think of that exact thing.

I feel like the final series was shorter back then.

Yeah, Because I was actually thinking about it the other day, I was like, I don't remember the semi finals.

I remember all of a sudden, we're like, oh, we're going to to watch Climb in the Grand Final.

Yeah, I actually can't regiscine it happened.

It really happened quite fast.

And then the following year we beat Brisbane in either a pre lim I think a prelim.

Does it go semi prelim or prelim semi semi prelim semim No, but we didn't win the game to make it into the Grand Final.

Anyway, we beat Brisbane and then the whole world shutdown because of COVID.

So that that's my finals experience.

Yeah, that no one needed to hear about.

But pretty much I haven't had the week off, but I often think about it and it would make me a bit nervous about losing momentum.

I think where it has its benefits, as if someone has niggles, funniest star player has some issues coming off the back.

But then in this game, there was a lot of pickle juice in that fourth quarter for both sides.

Yeah, right, was it hot?

It was quite funny.

The commentators were talking about how hot it was and they were like, gosh, the conditions twenty.

Four degree spoiling, absolutely sweltering.

Which I guess from Melbourne had gone on the weekend before though it was like sixteen or something, wasn't it.

Yeah, twenty four weltering to swing.

Yeah, I guess to the point of the week off, Like you said, there are pros and cons, and I do agree.

Like as war tars to finished first, the women's wartars the last year, she's got lots of.

Not on the field.

We often get a week off, and it is that it's that the physical aspect of it in regards to freshening up anyone that has and niggles, that's very advantageous.

Do you take that over potential momentum distraction and no?

Yes, what do you think it's doing it?

I don't know, thinking.

Yeah, I don't know.

I think it's a case by case basis.

I think it's not a sweeping yes or no.

Do we put it to the people, Yeah, let's do it.

Let us know what we got.

Momentum killer or if you're good enough, you'll find the momentum and you'll be sweet.

Yeah.

I like the question.

Carlson Bagger is sad?

So sad?

Did you see that one?

No?

Also away with my friends down in Jared go.

On doing what you do best, wine, not surfing wine.

Brisbane were just really good and I think they just shut down Carleton's uncontested possession game.

The pressure ratings again were super high, so it was it was pretty scrappy early and then I think it was in the third Brisbane just went on an absolute tear and they they just were the better team.

So it unfortunately just really separated the school line.

It's not the word I was looking for.

Sixty seven to thirty two in Brisbane's seventh Grand Final in the competition's tenth season.

Boring, Okay, kidding Brisbane.

Sorry, we'll see you tonight at Trivia.

We love Brisbane.

In some softball news, the Aussie Spirit, the Stone women's softball team I currently tied at two games apiece in their six game series against Chinese TIPEI.

Now just a little quick refresher on softball for those of you that didn't play elite school girls softball like Chloe and I did as children.

Did you play softball?

Yeah, I wouldn't say elite school girls.

I definitely play position.

I didn't pitch.

I was a pitcher or second base.

I was definitely a catcher in baseball.

Oh god, you're too tall to catch.

Yeah.

I don't know how my hips ever bent like that.

I used to can't enford it.

So the little hand signals.

Yeah, isn't I think the three down is a curveball, one down to a fastball, and the rest I'd be making up.

So I don't know any So you've done really well there.

Back to softball.

So softball is played by two teams, nine players each, and I guess the aim of it is to score more runs than your mates.

Sorry that your opposition.

Yep, you score a run by hitting at the ball and progressing around the four bases.

It consists of seven innings.

Each team has a bat until they've had three outs and then they swap over, so that's it.

In innings, the fielding team tries to get the batters out through various means, as in catching the ball, striking them out, so you get like baseball three strikes or tagging a runner.

And yes you said, the.

Team that finishes after those seven innings with the most runs wins the Spirits.

They put off the most impressive performance in Game two, coming back from five to one down to take a six to five victory.

Tamika Whitefield got things.

For Australia started scoring a run in the first innings before Chinese tape responded by with five runs by the bottom of the second innings thanks to a home run from Feng chen Lin, But the Aussies gradually chipped away, scoring runs at the top of the fourth, fifth and eventually two runs in the seventh to steal a dramatic victory.

Oh good, I got a question for you.

Yes, you're not going to be able to answer, but we'll put it out there.

I wonder how many of these softball girls are transitioning to baseball with the new league starting up.

That's a great question actually, Like I said, don't expect you to be able to answer it.

But so the difference between softball and baseball, we're talking under arm pitching in softball.

Ball big a ball.

That's about it if you're talking about major differences.

I know there's definitely a lot of other nuanced differences, but so baseball is an overarm pitch and a smaller ball.

I I saw Ellen Roberts, an Australian softballer, an event the other day.

We were having a chart.

She's been she's an Olympian, she's been playing professionally pretty much her whole life.

I think a lot of it over in Japan.

I don't know.

I didn't ask her this question, but I also kind of get the vibe that softballers love softball and baseballers love baseball.

Oh.

Absolutely.

It's a bit like rugby union players love reper union and rugby league players rugby league.

Until someone says, hey, you know what, I'll give you an extra fifty grand a year to play this sport and you go, oh yeah, sure, give me a smaller ball and an overarm pitch.

Did you put that question out so that you could say that, did you feel like taking a stab at rugby league today?

No?

Play on, Let's go next.

In cricket, the Sydney Sixers have ended the Hobert Hurricanes undefeated WBBL season with an eleven run victory.

The summers leading wicket taker Heather graym four for twenty nine, came up with a WBBL the real best figures to help restrict the Sixers to just nine for one forty nine at the close of the innings, but in the end it wasn't enough to get the Canes over the line.

The host required nineteen runs from the last three overs with four wickets in hand.

Income Six's skipper Ashgardner, who dispatched of Hailey's silver homes for just six, Molly Strano for a duck and Lawrence Smith for just one to help bowl Hobart all out for one thirty six.

That's impressing from Ash Gardener.

The victory ends the Hurricanes winning streak on five they're equal longest in WBBL history.

Meanwhile, the Perth Scorches have taken home a one run victory over the Adelaide Strikers.

The Melbourne Renegades have claimed victory over the Sydney Thunder with fifty three balls to spare, and the Brisbane Heat remained winless after falling to the Melbourne Stars.

In WNBL news, Adelaide Lightning have clinched a thrilling ninety nine to ninety three overtime victory against the Geelong Venom.

Steph Tailbert was everywhere in the sea sawing encounterate saw thirty four lead changes?

How was that fleeing changes?

What's an average in the game, because obviously it happens a lot more than the other sports, because it's like a bit like netball, where it's a bit one for one.

Ish sixteen, scoring thirty two points as well as posting nine rebounds and five assists.

That's Steph Albert.

By the way, Chloe's going to do some research and not believe my randomly plucked number.

Why would I not believe it?

I know, I said it with authority.

Now.

The scores were tied at eighty four, all at full time at triggering the first ot of the season, and Steph Talbot who admitically wanted to be selfish delivered.

Talk to me about that moment in the end when you are feeling on a streak and you know hot.

I guess the theory of just give me the ball.

Ever been in that mode?

Not a lot of times, but there is a time that comes to mind.

It's kind of cool.

It's also kind of cool when your teammates also just know it as well.

Get it the ball, Get it the ball.

Yeah, I think it is.

It's a pretty cool.

It did not happen that often for me, but when it did, it was quite amazing.

You were just draining them from from halfway.

All right, Caitlin, Okay, lead changes, you want to know?

The average number of this is AI so could be inaccurate, but let's go with it.

The average number of lead changes in a basketball game is not a widely cited statistics statistic even but analysis of NBA game showed lead changes are frequent and dynamic.

For example, one game had a record forty three, so I reckon mid thirties is pretty high, and studies of scoring suggest a lead change occause approximately every thirty seconds in a forty eight minute game.

Huh, that doesn't even make sense.

That means it's ninety six is not mathing.

That's not mathing anyway, So.

Sixteen it is.

I like it, so Steph Albert, as she said to you, I mean she wanted to be selfish.

She fired seven points to see out the win in ot It was the high scoring match of the season, also helped by Sania Fagan who hit twenty two points to go with eleven assists and Dallas love Ridge who netted nineteen points.

Good to see Charlie hillback, Yeah, how good sixteen points on her return from a knee injury for the Venom and produce the moment of the game when she shot while falling to score in the first quarter.

Sixteen must be the number.

In a bit of hockey news.

The final round of the Hockey one season has ended in dramatic fashion, with the Perth Thunderstix defeeding the New South Wales Pride six to five, handing the New South Wales side their first loss of the season.

The results season Thunder six catapult into fourth place, earning their place in the next week's final series.

Or they had plenty to play for.

That's thundersticks, Oh yeah, not just their excellent name.

Bears decides whether she likes hockey teams based on whether their names are good and or appropriate for field hockey and all ice hockey.

If they're not running up to ac DC, I'm not here.

On both sides.

Went for Dad to open the match with the scores locked three all at halftime, I'd back too early in the second half to take the lead before the thunder six scored three goals within twenty minutes to claim victory.

Okay, I've just said the score line, but the part that I didn't say All six of per six goals were all scored by Matti Ratcliffe.

Amazing.

That's kind of amazing, Like we're not just talking like a casual hat trick here, all six of your teams winning six goals in an upset to qualify for finals, and you've scored them.

So we're talking about feeling it earlier.

Oh god, yeah, Maddie.

Ratcliffe had a hot stick.

Hot stick.

Get her the I was going to say, puck the ball.

So you get confused with the ice and there it's the team names, isn't it.

It's just a ball, the hockey ball.

Yeah, hockey ball.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Get at the hockey ball get at the ball.

The best part actually was that, well there's two best parts.

But the second best part is that in the leading goal scorers of the season, she was sitting middle of the pack.

She's only scored prior to this game two goals.

She's now the regular season's top goal scorer and two goals ahead of her closest rival.

Because she scored six goals.

In a game, they will haven't win his score six.

I reckon, I love that sport that it's not very high scoring.

Is it a golden stick?

It has to be like a golden boot.

Do they have a golden stick award?

It has to be hockey one.

Can you let us know?

And if it isn't, we'll make one all right.

In some beach volleyball news, Australia's dream run at the Beach Volleyball World Championship has come to a close after Ossie young guns Steffi Fayesh and Jasmine Fleney went down to the second seeds of Brazil to zip.

The pair of twenty year olds lost the first set fourteen to twenty one and the second eighteen to twenty one to about out in the round of thirty two, having progressed the furthest of any of the Australian teams at the tournament.

In the final, Latvia's Tina Gradina and Anastasia Samolova trimed as the new women's World champions, defeating the USA's Kristin Nuss and Tarran Brusher in the final after a three set battle.

It was not only Latvia's.

First ever World Championship title, but also the Central European country's first ever World Championship podium.

Go How good was that?

That's cool?

In football, the Wellington Phoenix teenager pvlock has become the club's youngest ever goal scorer in a one nil win over Melbourne Victory.

At seventeen years and eighty days, Lockboat broke the record set by Millie Klegg in twenty twenty three.

He was seventeen years and eighty one days old, the old one day old one day.

In fact, the teenager's first half goal was the difference as Wellington defeated Victory for the very first time in Ninja A League history to climb from eleventh up to fifth on the table.

That's a nice little jump, sure is.

Don't mind that?

In other A League women's results.

Lauren Allen capped her hundredth Ninja A League match with a goal as Newcastle Jets took down Western Sydney wonder as one nil.

Camber United celebrated their first winn of the season with a three nil victory over Perth Glory, and Sydney FC defeated the Central Coast Mariners one nil.

And in some European football news, Ellie Carpenter did you see that girl was nice?

Put it in the chat.

Very excited Ellie Camberda helped Chelsea record a one to one drawer against Barcelona in the Women's Champions League.

It was a very nice girl.

That Ossie gave her side the lead up to sixteen minutes when she hammered home from the edge of the ear after being put away by Aggie bebe Jones near halfway.

The draw actually saw Chelsea and Barcelona's previous one hundred percent record in the Champions League.

That is so impressive call that.

Meanwhile, Arsenal have come from behind to win two to one at home to Real Madrid.

Caroline We're bollied in the opener for the Spanish side just before halftime, but Alicia Russo pulled the Gunners level with a header in the fifty second minute courtesy of a Chloe Kelly cross So then completed her brace with another head of fourteen minutes later to seal the deal for the Raining champs.

Wow, let's take a look at the key story.

Nine Australian women have been selected in the inaugural Women's Professional Baseball League Draft w p b L.

So what is it?

Tell us?

What is the league?

Bez.

It's a new professional women's baseball league in the United States set to commence in August of twenty six, which aims to elevate the visibility and proliferation of women's baseball by establishing a path to professionalism for college and amateur players.

The league is co founded by Keith Stein and Justine Segal, who was the first female in history become coach a professional men's baseball team.

Cool.

It will begin with four teams, Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, with all games we played at.

A neutral venue in Illinois.

That's an interesting decision that.

Is kind of weird.

Cool, four very cool locations to have a team.

And then you're going to play games in Illinois.

Doesn't even say Chicago, so it might even be not sent like bigtown Illinois.

Sometimes I'm like, you do what you need to do to get the league up and running, but four serious sporting marke.

Cities yeah, big markets.

Yeah interesting.

I'm sure there's some theory behind it, but I hope that they do enough in those home markets to.

Attract fans to travel to Illinois and connect.

Yeah.

Interesting.

It'll consist of a four week regular season and two week postseason, partitioned by an All Star game.

Games will last seven innings and be played with aluminium bats as opposed to wooden.

What do they play in the MLB?

I think they have a choice, ah, between aluminium and wooden.

Absolutely made that up, but it just makes sense to me.

I think they choose between sixteen bats lead changes.

Teams will consist of fifteen to twenty five players.

That's a broad range, it sure is, and be restricted to a total salary cap of US ninety five thousand dollars.

Small steps, Sorry I should be it's exciting.

It is exciting.

Exciting.

We've had lots of people drafted, but that's a really low salary cap.

Yep, small steps, but a step nonetheless.

Split that by twenty five.

People don't do the math.

It's a maximum of four grand.

Sounds like another sport, I know.

Yeah.

The league intends to broadcast it's games on a national network instead of on regional sports networks.

The twenty twenty five w p b L Draft was completed in six rounds, with each of the four teams selecting five players per round, with a total of twenty players chosen in each round and one hundred and twenty players selected overall.

Where are the Aussies going?

Beds?

Nine of them?

So to Boston the highest peak.

Do we have Takara Geldenho's to La, Caitlin Anon to Boston, Molly Patterson to New York, we have Clara O'Sullivan and also to New York, Madison Irwin to La.

We have Leah Cornish to Boston, Alibaber to Los Angeles, l D O'Sullivan and to New York Chloe Atkinson.

Takara Geldon, Who's who became the first Austraint selected in the draft, said, having this opportunity in front of me is such a surreal feeling and it fills my heart with so much joy knowing that the next generation of girls get to grow up fully, wholeheartedly believing that this is a real possibility for them.

I really love that, and we obviously, you and I don't know a huge amount about baseball.

It's probably not something we've been heavily involved with, but I think hearing those words about how much it means to them is obviously huge.

I really do hope the fact that it is called the Women's Professional Baseball League.

I really do hope from a salary cap perspective, that the league goes well this year and that increases quite rapidly to support these players.

Yeah, and I hope the salary cap is only a very very small portion of what they're spending on the league in regards to professional development support for the players, so they can get better and be the elite baseball players that I know they can be.

So Yeah.

I also I think to your point, the important point in the in the news item was that they will be broadcast on a national network.

So get them on the Telly.

Let's get people watching them like that and get them a bigger salary cap.

Yeah, I like it.

Let's take a look at what to watch.

Tillis till he's back, Till he's a back and they're playing in so God's country.

So the people say canber is God's country.

He lives, she lives in a lot of places.

Gone okay, Gospel.

For those of you that don't know where producer so He's from.

They take on at New Zealand.

The match beginnings on Friday.

It's seven thirty pm ad T and you can watch it live on Paramount Plus.

And obviously if you're in the.

Area, get there, Get there.

Find producer Sof and debate with her about where you think God does live.

Well, I think if they're all there, they're all going to agree about it being Gospford.

In hockey, it's final time in the Hockey One League, with both semifinals happening this Saturday at eleven thirty am and two thirty pm, with the winners of each match advancing straight to the Grand Final on Sunday at three forty five pm.

You can watch the entire final series live and free on Network seven.

In WNBL, the latter leading towns will fire host the in form south Side this Saturday night at seven pm ADT.

You can watch all the action live and free on the nine network.

I don't know why you just skip cricket, but it's starby Weekend and the Women's Big Bachelor where the Stars taking on the Renegades at three ten pm on Saturday, before the Sixers meet the Thunder in the Sydney Smash on Sunday at three forty pm.

You can watch both games live on KO Sports.

Maybe because I wanted to talk about the AFLW the Big Dance the Big Dance Tier And for the third time in the row in a row, the Brisbane Lines will face off against the North melbourn Kangaroos in the Grand Fly Final.

Is this the decider?

It is the decider one apiece yeah wow.

The winner this weekend will become champions of the Galaxy.

The match begins at seven forty ADT and you can watch it live and free on Network seven if you are in Melbourne.

Make sure this sells out.

It deserves it.

It's going to be an absolute cracker.

Yes, get there, I believe ikon.

It must be right, yeah, yeah, surely.

In football, it's the top of the table clash in the Women's A League this weekend when the undefeated Newcastle Jets take on the second place Brisbane Raw.

The match kicks off Sunday at four pm ae d.

T bobs Layers.

We're back in action at the second World Cup event of the season, this time in Austria.

The event begins on Monday and runs until Sunday, and you can watch it live and free on the ib SF YouTube channel.

That's a wrote, See you next week.

See you at trivia tonight, Brisbane.

Have a good week everyone, Love you guy,