Montana Kearnes, 20, was selected in the opens squad for the first time in her career while younger sister, Layhnee, 17, was chosen for the under 19s squad ahead of next year’s national championships.

It marks the culmination of a whirlwind year for the siblings, both of whom have made waves at state and national level.

Montana was a shock selection for the national side late last year and took part in a 10-game tour of Japan with some of Australia’s best while Layhnee capped off her under 17s national title with an all-star selection back in January.

“This is still the best news ever though,” Montana said.

“It’s my first opens team for NSW and it’s a very hard team to crack, so it was a big shock to get the phone call.”

Not one to shy from a challenge, Montana has already set her sights on improving her game under the eyes of the state’s premier softballers.

“I get to play alongside some of my idols, which is so incredibly exciting, and I think that’ll help me keep on learning as well.”

“Players like Stacey Porter and Stacey McManus are amazing and I can’t wait to be in that environment.”

While Montana has had just one session with her new side, Layhnee heard of her selection earlier last month and has already doubled down on a punishing training schedule that sees her commute to Sydney twice a week.

“It’s the first time I’ve played under 19s though and that’s where I wanted to get to, so it’s pretty exciting to be here now in that team,” Layhnee said.

Both Montana and Layhnee have squarely set their sights on representing Australia at the Olympic Games and a strong showing the national championships in January next year could launch them into the Spirit opens squad.

There’s still plenty of time to improve and the sisters will continue to juggle state training duties with South Wagga Warriors in the local A-grade competition.

The Warriors endured a few hairy moments in their 5-2 win over Saints last weekend and their gun duo is eager to see improvements made.

“We managed to make a comeback in the last innings and pull our finger out, so that was good, but we’ll keep working and getting better,” Layhnee said.

“With only three teams in A-grade, you’re playing people over and over and you end up getting pretty accustomed to how other teams play.”

“It’s still pretty early days too and we usually trial people in a few different positions before Christmas,” Montana added.

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