Orlando was a good exercise for us says Coach Hokai, especially given we have come from cold weather in New Zealand.  Most of the players are coping very well, we have had to learn how to hydrate properly and continuous drinking has been the key.  

 
Our first double header was against the Santa Fe Inferno a U18 Gold team we got a good lesson going down 15-6.  We faced a very good team, but we struggled in the first couple of innings.  We hit back in the 5th innings to get 6 runs.  Denva Shaw-Tait, Kelley Renner, Pallas Potter, Otila Tavite strung hits together and had a good night with the bat.  I felt our Pitchers struggled against a very good technical team, and are going to have to be a lot better once we hit the World Series. Overall we got better in the second game, with young Bailey Robertson having a good show on the mound.
 
Next games up we played the Tampa Bay Mustangs who were runners up in the Colorado Sparkler tournament a week ago, again the Juniors went down both games.  In our first game against the Mustangs we went to tie breaker, and we played well but we lost so many opportunities with runners on base, we should of scored a lot earlier to finish the game.
 
This week we will play Australia on the 20th then a games against China, Great Britain and South Africa before starting on the 24th of July.  We have settled well into our accommodation with our supporters now starting to arrive to Clearwater.