As the buzz builds for the June 8 Sooke visit by the New Zealand Black Sox junior fastball team a couple of other games are generating some interest of their own, and should do well in whetting the local appetite for top level fastball entertainment.

On Saturday, May 31 the reigning national midget champion Sooke Smoke will host Swiftsure – a senior B mens team. Game time is 3 p.m. at Art Morris Park on Throup Road.

The next day, June 1, will feature a double header with the Smoke hosting Neilson Digital, again at 3 p.m., then a 5:00 game between the Sooke Pemberton Holmes Royals and the Victoria Thunder.

Royals coach Rod Nyberg says a good number of double headers will be played in Sooke through the summer – music to the ears of local ball fans.

The Royals (1 p.m.) and the Smoke (3 p.m.) will both face the Black Sox on June 8. Nyberg, like everyone else involved, is excited by the prospect.

“New Zealand’s number one in the world,” says Nyberg. “Canada’s usually second or third. Once in a while we win first.

“Every five or six years we might win the title so we’re hanging tough. But they’re the guys to go after.”

The June 8 visitors represent the feeder system for the powerhouse national squad, and Nyberg wants to show them the local young players are strong in their own right.

He makes a good point in light of the recent success achieved by both of the Sooke teams.

“We want to make it a good show, we want to go get ‘em,” he said of the NZ team which will use the Sooke stop as a tune up for the World Junior Fastball Championships slated for late June in Whitehorse.