Counties Baseball player Sharysse Kjestrup-Caudwell has become the first ever Kiwi to compete in the Baseball For All Nationals 23U tournament in the United States.

Kjestrup-Caudwell has been playing baseball since she was five, coming up through the junior ranks and playing the past couple of seasons for the senior men’s side in the Auckland competition.

The tournament, which runs from July 20-24 this year and is held in Windsor, Colorado, is designed to bring together girls in baseball from all over the world to compete with and against each other.

A Givealittle page has been set up to assist Kjestrup-Caudwell get to the tournament.

She isn’t the only Counties Baseball players to earn representative selection – eight youngsters have been included in the various age group Auckland Tuatara teams to compete in July’s Down Under Winter Classic in Australia.

Dylan Stark, Brooklyn Te Kaha, Zahr Shaw-Wallace, Lennox Easthope and Jaxson Baldwin have all been selected in the 17U side.

Jayden Whittle and Caleb Dufty have been chosen in the 15U side while Cole McWilliams has been picked in the 13U side.

It follows the selection of leading players Taylor Irwin, Tairea Thompson, Dominic Elliott and Jackson Taurarii in the New Zealand U23 side competing against Australia.