Bathurst's Charlotte Shoemark hits 50, takes three wickets in opening game of NSW PSSA Girls Cricket Championships

The Western skipper took three wickets, scored her first career half century and even managed a catch as wicketkeeper in her team's opening game against Combined Independent Schools (CIS) at Scots All Saints' College.

The home side ultimately went down by 28 runs in their pursuit of CIS' 117 but showed a lot of potential for a team filled with many players getting their first taste of cricket at this level.

Western convener Toby Morgan said it's great to see a lot of girls from the region not being afraid to take the step up into the NSW PSSA competition.

"It was great to see that we were competitive. A lot of the girls in the team don't play weekend cricket," he said.

"So for a lot of them it was their first real game of cricket."

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Morgan was full of praise for Shoemark's efforts.

"She opened the bowling and got three wickets, had a 50 retired, took a catch and was captain," he said.

It didn't take long for Shoemark to make an impact in Monday morning's 25 over match as she picked up the first three wickets of the contest to have CIS at 3-17.

Remaining opening batter Neve Sutton (17) hung around for longer while Maddie Anderson (28) top scored for her side.

Number 10 batter Lily Cox (19) also added late runs to help push CIS into triple figures.

Shoemark finished with 3-2 while Wellington's Zara Harvey also took three, ending her day with 3-20.

Western made it to 10 runs to start their innings when they lost three wickets without adding a run.

That brought Shoemark to the crease, and she showed great composure in the middle to rack up eight of the nine boundaries that Western hit in their match-winning innings.

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