Local tourney a team effort

A WEEKEND of baseball is set for this April at Prince of Wales Park as the annual Victorian Masters Baseball Carnival slides into town.

Along with 25 teams from across the state battling it out for top place, freshly minted tournament director Rick Trezise said the event will mark new developments for the sport in region.

“Recently, there was three clubs in Ballarat, and two of them, Ballarat Royals and the Alfredton Eagles, amalgamated, and kept the Royals name,” he said.

“Normally the Eagles wouldn’t really be very involved with running the tournament, but the club quadrupled with more teams last year.

“So now, with more members, they’re an asset to the Royals, and so both teams are now working together with an abundance of volunteers to make the tournament the best it can be.”

Teams will be divided into four grades from over 35s to over 45s, and the over 50s teams will now be split into grades A and B.

First established in 1997, the competition rotates between Ballarat and Geelong, and until recently was run by founder Kingsley Collins.

Terzise said that while he won’t be straying too much from Collins’ foundation, he plans to make the operation “a bit shinier” with the extra resources of the combined team.

“This is a huge step forward for Ballarat. I believe this time next year we’ll even have a women’s masters division,” he said.

“I don’t think it was able to grow in its current form, because Kingsley was doing everything on his own back.

“Now with both those teams running it, we’re only limited by our imagination. We’re trying to bring things into the next dimension with new websites and databases as well.”

Over 300 people are expected to attend, and although the carnival is a competitive tournament, Trezise said the social aspect of the event is the most important part every year.

“It’s all about getting together. The guys will hang around, have a beer, talk to people they’ve played with, some of them at least, for the last 50 years,” he said.

“I think that’s the important part about masters sport is we get old really quick, and for the guys to still be able to do that, it’s huge for their mental health.”

The baseball carnival will run across the weekend from Friday, 1 April and will run until Sunday, 3 April.