The Sydney Deadstars will return to Tamworth for this weekend’s 50th anniversary of the June Baseball Carnival, in what is their 25th anniversary as an organisation.
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They are eyeing their 12th A-grade success at the annual event.
The years are a bit of a blur for Deadstars organiser Andrew Smuc, who returns for his 37th straight year at the carnival.
“It’s like coming home,” Smuc said. “Love it – look forward to it every year.”
The Deadstars won last year’s A-grade final 3-0 over Interport Masters. They had six teams last year but will field five this time after their under-18 side pull out due to a lack of numbers.
However a number of under-18 players have filtered into Deadstar teams in B, C and E-grades.
Losing the under-18 side isn’t bad, Smuc said.
“It’s enabled us to reinforce all the sides and they all have good numbers this year,” he said. “The girls side has 17 players so we’re pretty happy about that.”
“We’ve still got 77 players,” he added. “And we’re all staying at the Sanctuary Inn again. [We] have 50 rooms booked there.”
Deadstars have won the 12 A-grade titles under outstanding skipper Todd “Moonlight” Nichols, and they have also won plenty of lower-grade titles.