SHOWING great character and all-round ability, the talented girls from Corbridge Middle School will battle it out on the big stage.

Needing to adapt their game when things weren’t going right, the school’s U13 girls’ team excelled to be crowned champions of the North Region Softball Championships.

While they didn’t field well in their opening game, their batting performance earned them the victory over Cheshire side Altrincham. It was the other way round when they met North Durham Academy in the semi-finals after a comprehensive win over Driffield, of Yorkshire, in the other group game, an outstanding display in the field making up for a poor batting display.

This earned them the chance to battle it out head-to-head with Urmston College, of Lancashire, in the regional final, scoring a massive 91-1 from their seven overs before restricting their rivals to 53-3 to book their place in the national final of the competition at Edgbaston in September.

The school’s PE coordinator Mark Blatherwick said: “It is a fantastic achievement and they all played well throughout the competition, and hopefully they can match that in the national final. The girls showed they can win games through whatever method, whether batting or fielding, and they showed excellent character.

“I was very impressed with how the girls performed, and we have a very talented bunch of young cricketers in this group.”

A number of the winning team went on to excel even further as they represented Northumberland U15 down in Lincoln.

Lizzie Scott opened for the county and batted through the 40 overs as her 56 not out helped the team to a good score of 168. Katie Chomse was the star with the ball, her five wickets restricting Lincoln to a score of 150.