Tasmania's under-17 boys' fastpitch softball team members are (back) Jack Rushton, 16, Zack Hefford, 15, Andrew Seabrook, 15, Rohan Murfet, 16, Brayden Dodd, 17, and Lachlan Smart 14, front, Kelvin Clarke (coach) and Lyndel McGlone (head coach). Picture: GEOFF ROBSON.
TASMANIA'S under-17 boys' fastpitch softball team will face off against some strong competition in the national championships that get under way at Launceston's Churchill Park tomorrow.
Tasmania will take on teams from Queensland, New South Wales, ACT, Victoria and South Australia in the week-long tournament being hosted by Softball Tasmania in conjunction with the Northern Tasmanian Softball Association.
The eight-member Tassie team is made up of players from Launceston, Latrobe, Ulverstone and Burnie.
Opening-round matches start at 9am tomorrow with the official opening ceremony to be held at 1pm.
``We are expecting about 130 players and officials to be here for the week,'' championship convener Sheryl Burnie said.
``We don't have the depth of players here in pitching and catching that other states do but we generally pick up some Queensland players to help us and we've targeted a couple of states we hope to do well against.''
NSW is the defending national champion.
THE DETAILS
WHAT: Australian U-17 boys' fastpitch softball championships.
WHEN: Tomorrow until Saturday.
WHO: Six state teams.
WHERE: Launceston's Churchill Park.
