A TADLEY schoolgirl has become the third member of her family to represent Great Britain at baseball.

Amy Trask, who is 14 and lives in Ramsdell Close, travelled to Sweden with the British Cadet team for European Championship qualifiers last month.

She followed in the footsteps of older brothers Ryan and Michael, who have both represented the country in the past.

“I have been playing baseball for about seven years and I suppose it runs in the family,” she said.

“I like baseball because it is a bit like rounders but has its own twist. Not many people play it, which is quite cool because it’s good to be an individual.”

The competition in Sweden saw Great Britain play games against Lithuania, Slovakia and hosts Sweden.

Trask’s main role is as on first base but she also bats fairly high up the order and was selected after impressing at trials.

She did not feature as Britain won their opening game 10-5 against Slovakia but did get on as a pinch hitter in their |second match against Lithuania.

However, she was not given the chance to show her batting skills, being allowed to walk to first base as the pitcher threw four balls and Britain lost 16-11.

Britian needed to beat Sweden to make the final but went down 18-13. Again Trask was used as a pinch hitter – but she was caught out going for a big shot.

The last game saw Britain face Slovakia to decide third place.

Neither could qualify for the European Championships and Trask started the match, striking out once and being grounded out twice, as her side lost 8-2.

“I really enjoyed the trip but was hoping to play a bit more than I did,” Trask said.

“The coaches chose to use me as a pinch hitter because they thought I would be good at that.

“Overall, I did not play too badly but there are always things you can do better. I did not manage to get any runs but I went out there to keep the ball low and allow my team-mates to get runs, which worked well.”

Trask plays her club baseball for Bracknell and hopes to continue playing as she gets older – though she has no specific aims.

“I am not sure where baseball might take me in the future and just plan to take things as they come,” she said.

“If an opportunity comes up to take it further I would be up for it though.”