Geraldton softball grand final losses were wiped away as player pops the question

For Matt Buscumb, the playing diamond at the home of Geraldton softball was the perfect venue to reveal a diamond of a different kind and propose to his partner Amanda Cook on grand final day.

Buscumb and his team Rams had won the men’s division one premiership on Saturday and he planned to make the ultimate pitch to Cook, who plays for Rams’ division one ladies, after her grand final, regardless of the result.

Unfortunately, the Rams ladies lost their match, but the disappointment of defeat quickly melted away when Buscumb popped the big question. Luckily for him, she said yes and they shared the moment with their Rams’ teammates.

Buscumb was understandably nervous and like his fellow Rams, gutted about the women’s grand final loss, but could not think of a better time or place to ask Cook to marry him.

“We played an absolutely amazing season all the way through this year, so proud of the girls but sometimes the big one at the end doesn’t go your way, but that’s OK,” he said.

“I was planning on putting that diamond on Amanda’s finger at the end of the game no matter what, win or lose, we will come back harder and faster next year.”

Buscumb and Cook feel connected through the sport they both love.

“We have been together for about four-and-a-half years, almost five now,” Buscumb said after the big event.

“Proposing on the diamond like that was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done, even though it didn’t go the way I planned after a loss it was still absolutely amazing.

“I couldn’t stop shaking but it felt so right still, the main reason I proposed on the diamond is that it’s the one place we are both at our happy place, a place we both love. I also started playing softball because of her in the first place.”

Cook was just as surprised as those around her with how the proposal unfolded.

“I was utterly shocked to see him on one knee when I turned around, but very loved and happy, the loss of the grand final disappeared,” she said.

The couple is going to enjoy some time being engaged before setting a date for the big day.

But their proposal was not the only love story to have their big moment on Saturday within Geraldton’s softball community.

Suiside’s Kevin Barry popped the question at home to fellow Bulldog Marnie Terhoeve on Saturday, following Terhoeve playing in a losing grand final on Friday night.

Terhoeve said that the sport had brought them together over the years.

“We met at softball 20 something years ago, we have played and coached each other at one time or another, over the years we would catch up between relationships but never actually pulled it together, timing was always off,” she said.

“We both had children with other people, but have kept in touch always over the decades. Cut to last year’s June carnival, he was living in Perth and I lived in Dongara, I was in Geraldton playing softball and he came up for the weekend and the rest is history.

“So yeah, a very full-circle moment and most people’s reaction to our being together was ‘it’s about time’.”