GAWLER Rangers’ pitcher Thomas Norley is continuing to take the right steps to realising his dream of one day becoming a major league baseballer.

The 15-year-old was part of South Australia’s under-16 team that competed at the national youth championships in Blacktown, New South Wales, last fortnight.

Despite SA finishing seventh in the competition, Norley impressed from the mound for the majority of the nine matches, despite a few hiccups in the opening clash against Western Australia.

“I started off, actually, really bad, but I managed to work it back against ACT in a couple of games, and probably managed to work up to playing at a rather good level,” Norley said.

“I had the one bad outing, but after that I played really well.”

Norley, who was joined in the side by fellow Ranger Zac Allen, a catcher, relished the challenge of competing against the best young players in the country.

“It’s definitely different, because when you get back to club-ball they might not be as fast down the base line, or throw as hard,” Norley said.

“Here, everyone is equally good, so you’ve got to kind of work to your own strengths.”

After getting into the sport via tee-ball at age eight, Norley is now coming up to his ninth season with the Rangers, and was one of the first players at the club to have reached the 100-game milestone (combining both senior and junior appearances).

With Gawler’s division three side struggling this season, despite getting its first win in a year last fortnight, Norley said the championships helped him develop a new perspective on the situation.

“What we lack, usually, is that we don’t bat as efficiently, and we tend to make errors in the field, but the last couple of weeks they’ve been really good and playing really well,” he said.

“You’re going to lose games and you have to accept that.

“You’re going to have bad days, but you’ve got to learn how to move past it and learn how to get better the next day.”

Along with playing division three on Saturday, the Gawler East resident also fronts up for the under 17s on Sunday.

With his ultimate goal to one day play Major League Baseball in the United States, Norley is well aware of the commitment required to achieve his dream.

“I suppose I’ve done it for a couple of years now, so you kind of get used to it after a while, but it’s definitely a lot of hard work,” he said.

“I don’t get to see friends as much as I’d like to, but it comes with the sport.”