Poah! It looks all set to host yet another great baseball experience in the, albeit temporary, capital of youth baseball of Europe. The rosters are finally finalised. For a couple of players it is sad that they had to forfeit their roster spot due to injury. The game of baseball can be cruel, and especially for our youngsters it is a huge dissappointment when they realise that they are going to miss the Battle. For others it opens a door that they are more than willing to enter.

We are welcoming 168 players and 36 coaches from 13 countries. The dutch are the majority but Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Sweden, Great Britain, USA, Curacao, Japan, Hungary and Estonia are represented. A baseball invasion in its purest form. We are absolutely delighted that the players and their parents are willing to take on such a big trip to compete at our tournament. We could not have foreseen this 7 years ago when we hosted our first U12 only tournament. Mindblowing thought is that more than 250 players registered and that we had to disappoint 80 kids, hopefully that they will give it another shot in future. Attracting a lot of interest for our tournament means that every year the tournament picks up a step in level of play. In 2019 we will see very competitive games of a high level of play. And that’s our goal. Every game must be on the line, learning players to compete and still have fun doing just that.

Jersey53 and Score66 Baseball put up a show of their own, designing the 2019 team liveries. This year we will meet the first pinstriped jerseys! All jerseys are ready to be distributed to the team managers who can enjoy the magic first moments with their players. You can almost feel it happening: on the first day of the tournament, the players don’t know eachother. When they put on their jerseys the instant BATC feeling is there, they are friends from that moment on ready to do battle together. Every day for a whole week!

Thanks in advance to all umpires we attracted once again to our tournament. Without them it would be impossible to host this event. Also the official scorers, announcers and our operations staff are ready to go. And we will be live on YouTube on the BATC Baseball channel. 360Sportsintelligence created that extra for all family and friends at home!

So yes, we are ready. Oosterhout Twins did a fantastic job again getting Score66 Arena, Horbach Field and Esri Park in the greatest shape. The clubhouse is stuffed with volunteers, Trudy and Kerstin are working fulltime to get it done on the facilities side: to get every loving parent, visitor and baseball enthousiast their meal and drinks when they need it. Incredible.

The weather will be great again. Bring out your sunscreen, laughter and cheers. Let the boys play.