Swing batter, swing. The first slo pitch tournament of the season gave local teams a chance to brush dust off their gloves, work the kinks out of game line ups and earn a few extra bucks while doing so.
The annual Ice Breaker tournament gave a dozen 麻豆社国产Slo Pitch Association (SSPA) teams the chance to play some ball and size up the season's competition.
Seasoned fielder Andrew Smith said the tournament helped his team the Pounders fine tune their game.
"We make it a point of hitting the Ice Breaker, it's an excellent way to get a lot of ball in a short amount of time. Definitely helps the season."
The B Division coach said the team performed well, winning two of the four games they played.
"We won half and lost about half, which is good for a start for us. We've got a bunch of new players so it's nice to get them out and get them playing," said Smith.
The Ice Breaker tournament pays teams out $5 for each winning inning and another $5 for winning the game, so players can earn a bit of spare cash for the team while having a ton of fun.
Smith said the Pounders play to have fun and not necessarily win any cash, although the $70 the team walked away with by the end of the weekend "wasn't bad."
"We generally don't go into that tournament worrying about winning any money, the team is more about enjoying themselves playing a little bit of ball out there than it is about winning a lot."
Division A coach Chris Wentworth agreed.
"Everyone plays five games. There's no real winner of the tournament or loser of the tournament it's just a matter of winning some money to help support your team," said the coach and pitcher for the Gun Show," said Wentworth.
"We did really well, we came through when we needed to. Everybody seems to kind of fit together really well. We're an easygoing fun team. There's no yelling, politics.
"We had a fun tournament. It's always fun with the Gun Show."
麻豆社国产Slo Pitch Association president Dave Southam said the league paid out nearly $900 in tournament winnings.
The top winners included the Garibaldi Tire Irons who earned $125, team Excons and the Hammers each won $110, Slo Pokes and the Shady Tree DOAs tied for third walking away with $100 each and the Mountain View Mowers ended the tournament with $75.
"Overall it was great. We had a lot of great support from some key volunteers," Southam said.
"All of our league teams had representatives that were helping out with the beer garden and the concession and that's certainly I really appreciated all of that extra help that people stepped up."
The SSPA will host a larger tournament including about 40 teams representing Squamish, the coast and the Lower Mainland from May 22 to 24. To register for the long weekend tournament visit www.squamish-slopitch.com/.
