The 2023-24 Goulburn Murray Cricket women’s campaign was memorable for many reasons.
Nagambie and Mooroopna made lasting impressions in their debut entries, with the young Cats one afternoon away from a remarkable first-up premiership season.
An equally youthful Echuca Green outfit took home the title, a familiar sight to those who have watched for years, but the league’s overall health and competitiveness reached new highs.
Mooroopna opener Gemma Boyd was well-rewarded for her efforts in a brilliant inaugural season at the Cats.
She received the Under-21 Female Cricketer of the Year gong at the association’s award ceremony on Wednesday night last week.
Boyd had a simply stellar season, leading Mooroopna’s renowned offence as the only woman in the league to post double figures with the bat every week.
Her 11 outings yielded 353 runs at an average of 32.09, the latter a competition-high figure, and chipped in with eight wickets at 11.13.
Speaking of high-powered batting, Shepparton United star Mel Saunders contributed plenty of her own with 328 runs at 23.43 off the back of a mid-season purple patch that yielded 145 between rounds six and nine.
However, her efforts with the ball landed a trophy in her hands, being recognised as the Bowling Aggregate champion.
Saunders claimed wickets in seven of her first nine games last year and landed 18 overall at 7.50, capped with insane figures of 6-5 in round nine at Kyabram.
Katamatite gun Katrina Chapman took out the Champion Player award after starting the season like a house on fire, posting eight scores of 25 or more in the first nine rounds for the Tigers.
Nagambie’s Kait Carracher was soon the show’s star, though, scooping two awards for a terrific showing with the willow.
The dynamic hitter, known to occasionally ply her trade in Nagambie’s B-grade men’s side, took the competition’s top honour as Women’s Player of the Year for her persistently high numbers that saw the Lakers home more than once.
Carracher matched Saunders’ tally of 328 runs, but did so in four fewer games with a league-high average of 32.8, duly awarded the Batting Aggregate trophy in edging out Boyd.
Not that these accolades led to any expectation of winning, though.
“(Winning Player of the Year) was a big shock,” Carracher said.
“I had no idea that was coming and it was a huge surprise when my name got read out.
“Knowing some of the quality I played against, I didn’t even consider myself in contention for that; I was a bit speechless when I was accepting it.
“I did manage to have a pretty good season with the bat and I was pretty stoked when the season finished and I’d maintained that top spot.”
Beyond the individual honours, Carracher paid tribute to the emerging bevy of Nagambie talent around her, who fought for and received an inaugural finals berth with little to no experience.
“We had no idea how the season would go,” Carracher said.
"We wanted to have fun and make some mates, but the team grabbed it with both hands.
"It was pretty incredible to see the love for the sport develop, probably being the only one who’d played before.
"To accompany all that with some fantastic success was pretty special.”