Our Board

Growing up in Queensland, Dani has been in and around a diversity of sports since her youngest memories. Dani had an extensive playing career in softball including representing Queensland across all junior and opens age levels between 2009 – 2017. Most notably as a member of the Qld Heat and U23 Women’s team winning the Gilley’s Shield in 2016 and the Joyce Lester Shield in 2017. Dani also played in the USA as a Junior in High School where she was a member of the Eerie Tigers who won the Class 4A State Colorado Championships in 2010.

As an experienced Program Manager in Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, Dani is currently Regional Suicide Prevention Lead at Adelaide Primary Health Network where she coordinates systems-based reform and commissioning of suicide prevention and early intervention activities to reduce lives lost to suicide in Adelaide. She brings with her an extensive knowledge of strategy development, procurement and contract management, operations, financial management and stakeholder management skills.

Outside of work and softball, Dani is a wife and mum to two young kids and is also proud to be part of small family-owned Adelaide business Rival Brothers Coffee Roasters. Dani is a passionate current premier league player for the West Torrens Eagles (2023 and 2024 Premiers) in the Adelaide Softball Competition and is eager to see Softball SA athletes excel at National and International levels and to develop strong grassroots foundations that drive participation in softball at a local level.

Elected to the Board at the AGM in September 2023, Matthew currently serves as the Principal and Chief Executive Officer of SEDA College (SA).

He is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD), possesses an MA in Sport Business, a BSc (Hons.) in Sport, Health, Exercise, and Nutrition, a Graduate Certificate in Leadership, and a Graduate Diploma in Teaching and Learning.

Matthew is dedicated to working in the best interests of the softball community and contributing value wherever possible, saying ‘it is a privilege to support the dedicated softball community across the state in their pursuit of achieving their sport-related objectives’.

One of Matthew’s three daughters is a passionate softballer.

Elected to the Board at the AGM in September 2023, Leanne is excited to bring a voice to the Board from the softball north with a special interest in furthering mens’ and boys’ softball.

This interest emanates as the mum of a male player and brings with her 12 years’ softball experience spread over juniors, seniors and State representation.

Leanne brings extensive not-for-profit management experience working in health care and is committed to the community that serves.

Growing up in Broken Hill, Nicole was involved in softball for many years, and fondly remembers many trips to Adelaide to play in the SA country champs. Rekindling her love for, and involvement in the sport more than a decade ago when her daughter started playing, Nicole is especially keen to support the financial sustainability of softball in South Australia through sponsorship, and support in the brand growth and recognition, as a key driver for increased participation. 

Nicole has been involved as a volunteer at club and state level and has experienced the great satisfaction that comes from the friendships and networks naturally arising from involvement in the sport that we all love. 

As a senior executive with more than 25 years’ experience in marketing, public and corporate affairs, sponsorship and brand activation, Nicole is currently the Executive Manager Public and Corporate Affairs with Hostplus. Nicole has managed significant sponsorship portfolios, including a significant focus on women’s sports and is an experienced crisis communicator. 

Nicole holds a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) a Graduate Diploma in Communications (PR) and a Master’s in Communications Management.  

Elected to the Board at the AGM in September 2023, Neal’s association with softball spans more than 30 years through the direct involvement of his wife and daughter.

Neal has worked at the executive level with large organisations for the last 20 years, including 11 years as CFO and then GM Commercial Operations of SANFL – managing complex partnerships and key stakeholder relationships that have underlying contracts and joint venture agreements.

Through these roles Neal has extensive experience and exceptional skill sets in all aspects of Financial Management, Project Management, Strategic Planning, Risk Management and Information Technology.

Having been involved in softball at many different levels over twenty-five plus years his softball background started as an A grade player men’s player, before transitioning into junior coaching which saw him eventually rise to the position of A Grade Women’s coach, starting at Walkerville, then back to West Torrens where he led the club to five premierships in a row before finishing his coaching career at Sturt. In his time, he also coached the SA State open men’s team and u19 teams, along with success coaching both men and women’s teams for Adelaide in the State Championships. 

Anthony’s background other than coaching is business analytics, technical support, customer service, staff trainer, and team management. Using this experience, he would hope to help continue to grow the participation and experience within our sport for the state and assist in its future endeavours. 

Anthony has served as the Chairperson for a major volunteer program over four years, which raised funds and awareness for various charities like Foodbank, RSPCA, Conservation Volunteers, Women & Children’s Hospital, Australian Red Cross, Make-a-Wish and others. Anthony served as Men’s president for Softball in SA in the late 90’s and was a volunteer for Westpac at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney working primarily in Athletics. 

He is married to a previous state pitcher Kylie Weatherstone and has two children Ryan and Lucy. 

Pete has been in and around softball in South Australia since he was a little kid. He played as a junior at State Championships, before turning to other sports like cricket and football. 

His mother is a life member in South Australia and has been a player, coach, scorer, umpire and board member, keeping her in and around the sport for around 60 years plus. Both sisters played through juniors to A grade in the Adelaide competition as well. 

Recently he has taken on the role of convenor at both men’s and women’s state championships and have also volunteered his time to help out as a scoreboard attendant, gate attendant and ground maintenance during National Championships. More recently you may have found him behind the bar, or you heard him on the commentary team of the best coverage of Softball in Australia. 

Away from softball, he has worked for 18 years in the South Australian Police. He travelled country regions for 8 years, learning the importance of community sports and also the importance of community participation in sports to keep towns alive. 

He returned to the Adelaide Metropolitan area and a couple of years ago was promoted to Sergeant in the Media Unit. His role includes providing a strong communication line to our staff and the public, building internal and external stakeholder networks, planning and producing media content, and producing media releases and responses to journalists. He is also responsible for ensuring communication plans and strategies are created and implemented on all issues that may affect SA Police. His area also works closely with the marketing and campaigns areas of SA Police. 

Pete’s aim on the SA Softball board is to see an increase in participation and ensure that our members have the best development opportunities, so we can continue to see our players performing overseas and in international teams. 

He also wants to make sure we have the best pathways available for people to develop umpiring and scoring skills to see them also have the opportunity to be a part of an international team. 

Pete wants to work closely with the members and have an open line of communication with our members on decisions the board makes. He aims to help in developing strategies and policies, to ensure we are inclusive of all people wanting to be involved in this great sport. He also wants to make sure that the staff in the Softball SA office have our full support, so that things that matter the most to our members can be handled efficiently and to the benefit of this great sport.