Zeylemaker was back to reality this week after helping NSW win the Softball Australia boys’ under-17 title last week in Canberra.

The specialist outfielder was part of the NSW side that only lost one match on its way to the national crown.

“It was just an experience I won’t forget,” Zeylemaker said of the national tournament.

“I’ve got another year [in under 17s]. Now I want to work even harder to make it [the NSW team] again.

“We started on Monday and finished on Friday. We played two games a day and they were seven innings each, so they went for an average of two-and-a-half hours each.”

The NSW boys started with a 12-10 loss to Western Australia after the two sides finished their seven innings with eight runs apiece.

“We had a 7-0 lead [in the first game against WA] and we just fell apart,” Zeylemaker explained.

“It was 8-all and we went into a tie-breaker. Then they won.”

From there they bounced back to beat Queensland 4-3, Victoria 2-0 and 8-0, and ACT 10-2 and 10-4 in their round robin matches.

In the major semi-final, NSW toppled Queensland 3-0 to book a place in the final.

In the decider, NSW met Western Australia again but Zeylemaker’s team never looked in doubt.

They were up 5-1 after the third innings, 6-3 after the fifth and went on to win 8-5.

Zeylemaker, who played all of the semi-final, was brought off the bench and into the outfield for the last innings against WA.

“I felt a lot of pressure. I wanted the ball to come to me but at the same time I didn’t want to stuff up,” he smiled.

NSW won and the celebrations began and of course they were all excited to get their hands on their gold medals.

“I didn’t take it off my neck when we first won,” Zeylemaker said.

That wasn’t the end for the 15-year-old.

He stayed on in Canberra for the Australia Day softball carnival which his team, the Benchwarmers, also won.

“I had a lot of good mates in the team, including eight guys from the NSW side,” he said.

Zeylemaker still has plenty of softball to play this season since moving to the Penrith competition where he has been selected in the under-17 representative side.

That team will contest the state championships in April, which is where the selection process begins for the state teams.

michelle.cook@fairfaxmedia.com.au