Archie King grudgingly concedes his sister Georgia is the better softballer, but says their sibling rivalry has helped them both make Australian squads for the first time.

The Scotch College students have played together for their home town of Hahndorf in the Hills Softball Association and for South Australia in the under-12 team.

But they will make their national debuts in different countries.

Georgia, 13, will be in Brisbane in July representing Australia in the under-15 side in the International Friendship Series, while Archie, 12, will head to New Zealand next month as part of the Aussie Diamonds under-14 development tour in Auckland.

“I feel good because now we can have a family competition for who can reach the highest (representative) level,” Archie says.

“We’ve played a bit together but now she’s in a higher age group to me. It’s exciting because we’d like to play at the highest level.”

Georgia, a versatile team member playing as catcher, third base and short stop, is joined in the Australian squad by two other Scotch College students, Year 7 Ruby Fidge and Chloe Slee, who is in Year 8.

The trio will compete in the Softball Australia International Friendship Series.

Georgia first started playing softball in South Africa three years ago while her family was based in Cape Town for her father Brian’s work as mining engineer.

Her mother, Catriona, played the sport as a youngster and is playing again since the move back to Australia two years ago.

“We all play now including our youngest Thomas (who is 10),” Ms King says.

“For the last couple of years, I’ve been able to play with Georgia in B-grade and I’ve loved it.”

Georgia and Archie were selected earlier this year to play for South Australian under-15 development teams in the regional championships in Perth (girls) and Canberra (boys).

It was their standout performances at the carnivals, along with the completion of Softball Australia testing for Georgia, that has resulted in their squad selections.

-- original article by Craig Cook appeared in Hills & Valley Weekly, 27 March 2019.