WAGGA Baseball hopes to generate enough interest to eventually introduce a junior league to keep the senior ranks thriving after a successful Invitational Games on the weekend.
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Teams from Canberra, Illawarra and a North Eastern team featuring Albury and Wangaratta talent converged on Jubilee Park for the two-day tournament, which is hoped will become an annual event.
A young and talented Canberra team won the maiden title after beating a previously unbeaten North Eastern 4-2 in the final.
Wagga managed to beat Illawarra but lost to North Eastern and Canberra twice, including Sunday's semi final.
"We wanted to keep building those relationships and hopefully make it something that we can add to our calendar ever year," Wagga Baseball president Albert Richardson said.
"It's always good to get a gauge of where we're at in comparison to other teams. It's good for the young guys to see some healthy competition."
The senior Wagga league currently features four clubs and five teams, and the focus is on building the grassroots talent to secure its long term health.
"We're trying to build on it and create some interest so we can eventually create a junior competition," Richardson said.
"Without juniors, it's very difficult to keep a senior competition going without some new blood coming through."
Richardson said the rival teams who traveled to the Invitational Games have already indicated their willingness to return for future editions.
"All three other teams that came have already said they definitely want to come back again next year," Richardson said.
Richardson highlighted Scott Hawkins, Reid Kemna, Sean Watkins and Reece Jamieson as Wagga's standouts on the weekend, but said the team was ultimately hindered by a lack of pitching depth.
All games were contested over two hours, aside from the final which was a seven-inning clash.
The event built on Wagga's clash against Illawarra in August, which they lost in a nail biter 3-2.
"We had two under-18s, a couple in their early twenties and some older guys, it was a good mix."
"Our local Wagga season doesn't start again until March, but we'll have a couple of come and try days in the meantime to try and get some more people involved in the sport."
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