The Iona College student, who turns 15 tomorrow, was called into the New Zealand senior women’s White Sox team as an invitation player for this weekend’s camp in Hastings that will include five games against the Junior White Sox at Akina Park.
Should the talented pitcher, who played for the New Zealand Junior Development side in Australia back in July, get game time she will become the youngest player to play for the White Sox, a team her older sister Melanie still plays for and one her mother Charmaine represented in the 1980s.
Gettins will be a back-up pitcher for Hawke’s Bay-raised Auckland-based pitcher Michal Tangaroa and fellow Aucklander Megan Farrell.
“I want to learn as much as I can while I’m around the White Sox,” said Gettins, who has been training hard in recent weeks.
She hopes her father and Junior White Sox assistant coach Kevin Gettins doesn’t tell his players too much about his youngest daughter’s pitching secrets.
The weekend will be a family affair for the Gettins crew.
While Kevin’s two daughters will be in the White Sox team, his wife will have an assistant coaching role with the White Sox today as head coach Naomi Shaw’s assistant Debbie Mygind doesn’t arrive in the Bay until tonight. His son and Black Sox training squad member Josh Gettins will have regular stints on the sausage sizzle.
“Fortunately I’ve been out of town on work commitments for most of this week so the girls in the house haven’t had too many opportunities to give me a hard time in the build-up. We’ll see who has bragging rights come dinner time on Sunday night,” quipped Kevin.
He pointed out this weekend’s camp is a key part of the Junior White Sox build-up to the December Junior World Series in Cape Town, South Africa. The final stage of their build-up will be an Auckland-hosted tournament at Labour Weekend. Click here to continue reading.