In one doubleheader, the weather was against the Squamish All-Star fast pitch team; in the other, the locals were defeated by superior firepower and defence.But the two games the Squamish team played against the Australian National Junior team last Thursday night (June 12) offered some valuable lessons for the home side. Though his team lost both games by wide margins, 10-1 in the first and 8-1 in the second, coach Ken Hall said his players stacked up well enough against the visiting squad considering the Australians are three-time International Softball Federation (ISF) Junior Men's World Champions."I was hoping it would be a little closer but I was happy with that," Hall said.Rain on Monday night (June 9) forced the cancellation of the doubleheader against the New Zealand National Junior team. Due to the tight schedule the away teams faced as they travelled north for the ISF Junior Men's Fast Pitch Championships in the Yukon, which start today (June 20), the Kiwi games couldn't be rescheduled.Hall called that "a huge disappointment." His players learned a lot from the games against Australia, he said, especially his three younger players: Jett Lee, Dylan Ackerman and Josh Parra."It was a great experience for them to see the calibre of players in their age group," Hall said.Team catcher Lee, who missed out on picking up several prizes he won at the Howe Sound Secondary School Awards Night in order to play in both games, said he "learned a lot of things" from playing against such a high-calibre squad."Every time you play a good team like this, you always learn something from the guysYou just experience new things," he said.Lee said he didn't expect the level of play to be as high as it was, even though the Aussies are world champions - they're still only about the same age as 19-year-old Lee, he said."(The level of play) was really good. The very first game, the first couple innings, it was really close game back and forth, hitting back and forth, and all of a sudden they got a couple of home runs," Lee said.Though the Aussies hit very well off the home side, Hall said, he commended Squamish pitchers Bob Versluis and Travis Moyle. Both are very skilled and played particularly well, the coach said, noting he was especially impressive by Versluis since he's only been pitching competitively for a few years.Hall said he was also "quite happy" with the friendly way the Australian team interacted with his players and the spectators, and with the amount of fans who came out in the Thursday-night drizzle to watch the games. He expressed his gratitude to the spectators for making it fun for the players.
