Illawarra will have seven players and officials in the NSW Country Blue Sox side attending two prestigious tournaments in Prague and Germany.
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It includes players Alex Osborne (Cardinals), Brendan Lower, Jesse Lynch (Pirates), Bill Daly (Pirates), Jay Turk (Panthers) with Brendan Sheedy (Pirates) as an assistant coach and Stephy Thompson (Cardinals/ NSW Country) as their official scorer.
They won a warm up tournament in Cairns before leaving Australia.
Northern Pirates were without key personnel and it allowed Berkeley Eagles to plunder their second successive mercy rule win against them on Saturday.
The Pirates succumbed to the 10-run rule, as Eagles were again led by Chad Blanch who threw seven strong innings with five strike outs and only two earned runs.
Eagles and Brisbane Bandits pitching ace Tim Atherton was this time the chief destroyer with the bat going 3/4 that included 2 home runs and 4 runs batted in (RBI) while Glen Needham hit an RBI double for his 2/2 performance.
Dapto Chiefs hosted Wollongong Cardinals at Hector Harvey Park with Chiefs holding the early advantage on the back of a great start from their pitcher Mitch Thompson.
Thompson threw five innings, striking out eight but fatigued into the sixth and the flood gates open for Cardinals, as their experienced Blue Sox sluggers Alex Howe and Josh Dean smashed RBI doubles bringing in six runs for a 7-3 lead on their way to a 10-4 win.