THE Beers are flowing at this year’s June Baseball Carnival.
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That’s nothing new, as the annual carnival is something of a reunion celebration tournament, especially in the lower grades.
But the Beers are literally flowing in B Division where The Beers are a Penrith-based baseball side formed especially for the Tamworth June Baseball Carnival.
Ben Gardner is the president of both the Beers Baseball Club and Penrith Baseball Club.
Penrith has senior and junior teams playing in summer and winter metropolitan baseball competitions.
“Most of the players here are from the Penrith club,” Beers coach Chris Edwards said.
“We have first, second, third grade and Under 18 teams in summer and winter we have five or six senior teams with teams in all junior age groups from seven to 16.
“Some age groups we’ve got two or three teams.”
Gardner said the Beers were formed to play in Tamworth “for a bit of fun”.
“We started with a team in D Grade three years ago and have two teams this year, one in D grade and one in B grade.
“It’s all about having fun.
“You’ve got to have fun or you wouldn’t play.
“And it’s all good fun for us.
“It’s about getting together as well.”
Three wins on Saturday had Beers well positioned in B grade to make a run for the final.
Deadstars have been coming to Tamworth for two decades.
They have won a number of A Division titles and have four teams in Tamworth this weekend, founder Andrew Smuc said.
“It’s our 21st year – we have four teams and 62 players.
“We have about 90 all up, including family and support people.
“We’ve even got one set of brothers back for the first time in a while.
“The three of them haven’t been here for seven years but they’ve come back.
“They reckon it’s like they’ve never been away.
“All the fun and partying, it’s a lot easier up here.”
While the carnival is a reunion for some, fun and enjoyment for most, it’s also a memorial for another group of former and current Tamworth players.
JC’s Legends is a team formed to celebrate the life and achievements of the late, great John “JC” Carter.
He passed away in 2010 but a group of his mates decided to form a team and play the 2011 carnival in his honour.
They had such fun and engendered so much good feeling to celebrate his life and many achievements.
The JC’s Legends were also in with a sniff of making the C grade final too.
Yesterday they observed a minute’s silence in John Carter’s memory before playing Kingswood.
John’s son, Rod Carter, threw the first pitch to his other son, Michael Carter.
Rod, who is flying planes for Virgin Airlines, was back in Tamworth and admitted his arm wasn’t as strong as it once was.
His brother, catcher Michael, stirred him by saying how sore his hand was inside the mitt after taking such a hot delivery.
Mick was also playing with the JC Legends side, formed by the likes of Steve Davison, Robert Handsaker, Dave King and Len Holt.
Davison, Mick Carter and Rod Wise, who brought two of his three sons down to Tamworth for the annual carnival, also sponsored the team through their family
businesses.
Final-round games in all divisions are played from 8.15am today with finals from 11am. A, B and C Division finals are nine innings or 1hr 45min games.