There were plenty of laughs and a lot of fun when North Western Titans hosted Wagga in a friendly baseball weekend.
With the Titans having the weekend off from Baseball Victoria Summer League commitments, they played Wagga twice on Saturday in a return bout of their visit to Wagga in September as part of its pre-season.
Titans Danny Haymes said it was a good opportunity to build a relationship between the two clubs, with a tournament a possibility for later this year.
With no points on the line, Haymes took the opportunity to experiment.
“It was a fun weekend,” he said. “We mixed up our teams and we didn’t put our strongest side out there for the first game.
“We wanted to give some of the other players a chance to get playing experience.
“They brought their best side down and it was a good experience.”
The Titans, with most of their second side playing, lost the first game 3-0.
In the second game, the Titans started with a stronger side and got out to a 4-0 lead, before again giving other players opportunities.
The final score was 4-4.
Haymes said the Titans were quite happy with how things went, despite not winning either game.
“For us, we weren’t worried about the results,” he said. “Some of the guys who played had never played before, so it was like a recruiting weekend for next season as well.
“We could have easily won both games, but we wanted to work on some things and we were comfortable with how it finished.”
The fun didn’t stop on Saturday, with the club hosting a “masters and toddlers” game on Sunday. All players over 31 were in the masters’ side and all players under 31 were part of the toddlers’ side.
Haymes said that game was also a lot of fun and the players enjoyed not having to worry about results for a weekend.
“We play 18 games in a year and it can be pretty hard,” he said.
“We can see the improvement and we know where we are at. We saw a potential squad for next year and it looks pretty promising.”
The Titans have three rounds left in the season. The club’s juniors will play finals, which start in two weeks.
Haymes said the club already had one eye on next season and was seeking players for the men’s side and looking at having a women’s side for the first time.
