College Spotlight: Remembering the 2018 Washington Huskies “Trip of a Lifetime” to Australia for a 10-Day Tour of Gabbie Plain’s Homeland!

It’s crazy to realize, but for the first time since the 2019 Super Regionals, the #8 Washington Huskies will play in Husky Softball Stadium as they host the Husky Classic this weekend. Washington will play five games in total this weekend, against Seattle U and Portland State.

This will be the final weekend of non-conference games for the Huskies, who begin the Pac-12 slate next week when they host the Arizona Wildcats. Washington is 16-2 entering this weekend and on a six-game win streak.

Leading the charge into conference play is All-World pitcher Gabbie Plain; if we would put together a short list of Pitcher of the Year Candidates in NCAA DI softball Washington Husky senior All-American would be pretty darn high on the list.

As noted by Matt Swanson, the Pac-12 school’s excellent Assistant Director of Communications over softball, Gabbie continues to rack up the honors and accomplishments in the 2021 season:

For the third time in four weeks, Washington’s Gabbie Plain has been named the Pitcher of the Week by the Pac-12 Conference. Plain has earned a weekly award every week of the 2021 season, with three from the Pac-12 and one from the NFCA.

Last week, Plain allowed just one run in 8.1 innings of work, striking out 17 and giving up just three baserunners. While Plain did have her 25.2-inning scoreless streak come to a close, she has now allowed one or fewer hits in four straight appearances. Since allowing a run in the first inning against San Diego State on February 26, Plain has a 0.25 ERA with 52 strikeouts and just nine baserunners allowed.

Plain has now earned nine weekly honors from the Pac-12 in her career, including six Pitcher of the Week awards. Danielle Lawrie is the only pitcher in Washington history to earn more weekly awards from the Pac-12.

Plain has also earned three weekly awards from the Pac-12 in every full season of her career. Lawrie and Taran Alvelo are the only Husky pitchers to accomplish that in multiple years, with Lawrie the only other Husky to do so in three different seasons.

This will be Gabbie’s final year and she’s sure to be remember for her great career in Seattle, but another memory her Husky teammates from two-plus years ago will always treasure was a trip to Gabbie’s home country of Australia… in an interview with Eric Lopez of Fastpitch News in March, 2019, she raved about the trip back home.

“Really, the experience of being in Australia with my American team/family was quite surreal,” Gabbie explained. “A few times I had to remind myself of where we were. It was almost like my head couldn’t wrap around the thought that my two worlds were colliding. But it was such an amazing experience to have with the girls. We got to go to places that I had never been before, as well as places that I knew all too well. I just loved being there with them and experiencing so many different things and making so many new memories”

Here’s a preview we did of the school’s first foreign trip abroad ever. Would it be too cliche to say, G’day mate!”

— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball

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Trip of a Lifetime: Huskies Head to Australia For 10-Day Tour of Gabbie Plain’s Homeland

Originally published Dec. 11, 2018 on Extra Inning Softball

Whatever you’re doing for the next two weeks leading up to Christmas, it won’t be as cool, fun or adventurous as what the Washington Husky softball team is doing.

Starting on Friday, the Pac-12 team will begin a 10-day trip to Australia–homeland of Husky All-American pitcher Gabbie Plain and return from its first-ever foreign tour on Christmas Eve.

“I am so excited to be heading home to play,” says the standout Aussie hurler. “I didn’t think it was a possibility to play with my college team back home so this is an amazing opportunity. To show them around a little bit of Australia as well is such an amazing bonus. I just can’t wait!”

The Huskies will visit Sydney, Blacktown, and Cairns on the trip, playing multiple games against local competition and exploring the area. During the week and a half away, the Women’s College World Series DI runner-up will accomplish the following:

• Visit the Great Barrier Reef
• Take a wildlife excursion
• Play two games against the New South Wales U19 squad (5:00 pm and 7:00 pm local time December 19)
• Play two games against the NSW Firestars (5:00 pm and 7:00 pm local time December 20)
• Take part in an Aboriginal smoke ceremony
• Visit Cairns Art Gallery
• Visit Gabbie Plain’s family
• Take in a cricket game in Sydney

So what does Head Coach Heather Tarr think of this “working vacation?”

“Our foreign trip provides us the opportunity to be together and integrate our newcomers more,” she says. “We really cherish this time and the opportunity to get to know each other on another level.”

“Seeing the culture from a different lens thanks to our academic course on Australia is something we’re very thankful for. We’ll have the chance to face National Team-level athletes and see some international softball history as we play where the 2000 Olympics were held.”

During the winter term, the team has taken a class covering much of Australian history and culture and giving context to much of what they learn during the trip abroad.

“The class we’ve been taking is an anthropology class looking into the civilizations found in and around Australia,” explains Plain. “We are looking into the culture of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and how they are seen in Australia today, as well as how they’ve been treated in the past.”

The trip is certainly a great hands-on way for the team to appreciate the home of where one of their teammates hails from.

“One of the commitments we make to our players is to take them home to play in front of their families and hometowns,” said Coach Tarr.

“Through our tremendous donor support, we have been afforded the opportunity to take Gabbie home. As a program, this is our first foreign trip and we are extremely excited to take our student-athletes down under to a place where we can continue to provide growth opportunities as young women and as a team.”

The foreign tour will be a part of the final preparations for the 2019 season, when Washington will attempt to make it back to the Women’s College World Series for the third consecutive year.

Washington returns all three of its All-Americans from last season in Plain, Taran Alvelo, and Sis Bates, as well as welcoming nine newcomers to the squad including transfer pitcher Pat Moore, who was the Big East Pitcher of the Year last year (for more on her, click HERE to read our Q&A published Nov. 30).