Australian Baseball League

SYDNEY, 22 April - The Australian Baseball League and the Sydney Blue Sox are mourning the loss of one of the league's first set of helping hands. Alexis Busch, an intern for the Blue Sox during the ABL's inaugural season in 2010/11, was lost at sea in a freak yacht accident off the coast of her native San Francisco on Saturday, 14 April. She was 26 years old.

"Alexis was a valued member of the Blue Sox staff in our inaugural season, and her contributions to the ABL as well as her passion for women's baseball in New South Wales were things we all cherished and admired," Australian Baseball League CEO Peter Wermuth said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Busch family during this time of incomprehensible heartbreak."

Busch was the daughter of longtime San Francisco Giants executive vice president Corey Busch and made history when she became Major League Baseball's first bat girl. Her image will endure forever as the first person to greet MLB all-time home run leader Barry Bonds after Bonds hit his 500th home run on April 17, 2001.

On the 14th, Busch was aboard the Low Speed Chase racing yacht during the Full Crew Farallones race when a pair of large waves unexpectedly slammed the vessel, knocking five crew members overboard. After a 30-hour search, the United States Coast Guard called off their rescue operation, saying the "window of survivability" had closed.

During her time with the Blue Sox, Busch assisted in a variety of areas from ticket sales to merchandising, media relations, baseball operations, and more. A proponent of women's baseball, Busch was a semi-pro catcher in California's Women's Baseball League and founded Lady Baseball, an organisation dedicated to be a resource for women interested in playing hardball competitively.

"Alexis was a very valuable member of our Sydney Blue Sox in our start-up year," former Blue Sox General Manager Eddie Bray added. "Nothing was ever a problem for her, and she'd get in and do whatever was required. Every time you saw her, there was always a smile on her face and a genuine interest in how you were doing. No coincidence that she was well liked where ever she went. The world is a poorer place with her passing."

Busch is survived by her father Corey, mother Anne Anderson, brother Chris, sister-in-law Laura, and her longtime boyfriend Nick Vos, a fellow crew member on the Low Speed Chase who suffered a broken leg but survived the accident.

On Monday, 16 April, Busch's beloved Giants honoured their former batgirl and the four other sailors lost at sea on Saturday with a moment of silence at AT&T Park prior to their game with the Philadelphia Phillies.