Australian contingent soaking up the fun on, off baseball fields during Freeport International

Kobi Dodd said he felt excited about coming back to the Freeport International Baseball Invitational with the chance to tell some of his Aussie Drop Bears teammates new to the tournament about what to expect.

“I know what needed to be done with preparing for the games,” he said. “I remember just how good the baseball teams are over here.”

About a half dozen Drop Bears team members knew each other from playing on previous club teams in Australia. But there also was a period of coming together with the other half of the team.

Some of the players and their families spent time in the U.S. before the whole team came together Saturday in Pittsburgh.

The group took in Sunday’s Pirates-White Sox game at PNC Park before the players connected with their host families Sunday evening at Freeport United Methodist Church.

Though there were some fun activities planned away from the fields, the games were the main focus in the Drop Bears’ return to the communities in and around Freeport Boro.

“A lot of the players new to Freeport were asking me a lot of questions about it,” Dodd said. “I made sure to let them know that there would be a lot of games in a short amount of time, so we would need to preserve our energy.”

The Drop Bears helped kick off this week’s Freeport International games with a matchup against the Freeport Stingers, managed by former Freeport International player Nate Good, on Monday evening at Freeport’s James E. Swartz Sr. Memorial Field.

They will play a total of eight games by the end of the week: Friday at 2 p.m. against WPA United at Northmoreland Park and again at 8 against the Freeport (High School) Jackets under the lights at Swartz Field.

The Drop Bears also will play at 2 p.m. Saturday at Springdale High School before returning to Swartz Field for a 5 p.m. game against NWO.

The International/U.S. all-star game and fireworks close out the week at 8.

“We came together as a team for the first time four or five days ago,” Drop Bears manager Shane Dodd said. “The first game on Monday was a bit rough, but we’ve really warmed into it. We played Highlands (on Wednesday) night, and they have a bunch of 17- and 18-year-olds, a little bit older than us. We went down 5-2, but the boys kept playing hard.

“Last year, Friday was kind of when we started to really jell and come together to play some good baseball. This year, we did that on a Wednesday, so we’re ahead of last year. These games are good learning experiences for our players. We expect some good games in the final few days here.”

Each Drop Bears game this week is being broadcast to Australia in a live stream courtesy of the Game Changer app. Family and friends of the coaches, players and their families have been watching the games as they happen or on a recorded-delay basis.

While the team played at 11 a.m. Thursday against Kids Count (Butler), a team made up of players from school districts that include Knoch, Highlands and Riverview, it was 1 a.m. Friday in Central Coast, Australia, the home of returning player Kye Hodges.

Hodges, nicknamed “Big Sexy” by his friends back home, came to America two years ago to play in a tournament at the Cal Ripken Experience in Maryland. He made the most of his trip to Freeport last year and is excited to be back this week.

“I was just excited to be back to see everyone I knew from last year and to meet some new people,” Hodges said. “I was excited to see (host family) Nate and Amanda (Good) again. I just couldn’t wait to come back to the field. To see the American flags flying, to hear both national anthems, and to play games here, it’s just a great experience. It is like a second home, and people like Nate and Amanda are like a second family to me. I hope to be able to come back many times in the future to play or just a trip here to visit.”

Hodges said some of the games this week have been intense but good.

“We’re just having fun, you know?” he said. “Win or lose, we’re going to turn up the next day ready to play.”

The Drop Bears took a break from games Tuesday evening and attended the races at Lernerville Speedway. As with last year, the team was able to watch fellow Australian James McFadden race on the Lernerville track.

McFadden fared well in front of his fellow Aussies.

“Lernerville was great,” Shane Dodd said. “We loved it last year. It was a chance for the coaches to unwind a little bit. My brother and I had a few beers and enjoyed the races. James actually finished fifth in the final. We went down to the pits, and he came out and chatted with the boys. He was in front in a race there last year, and the American took him out, which drew some big boos.

“Twenty to 30 years ago, a speedway with racing was a big thing in Australia, but it’s not so much anymore. The racetracks are closed down. These boys don’t know anything about it, so it was good for them to see the track and the racing. They went out and sang the Australian national anthem and got a big cheer from the crowd. They got a lot of fist bumps coming back through.”

The impact of the week was not lost on Craig Dodd, Shane’s brother who is serving as an assistant coach with the Drop Bears.

Craig Dodd has vacationed in Hawaii and Los Angeles on previous ventures to the U.S., but this is his first time in America for baseball.

He said he is happy to be able to share this experience with Shane, his brother; Kobi, his nephew; his son, Chase, and everyone else from Australia.

“Shane and Kobi really told me how this is a community-based tournament where everyone is very inviting,” Craig Dodd said. “I’ve been able to find out myself that everyone has been very welcoming. And it’s some pretty good baseball. I was going to just be a tag-along to watch Chase play, but with coaching experience in junior baseball and being involved in baseball in Australia for 40 years myself as a player and coach, when they asked me if I wanted to help coach the team, I couldn’t pass that up.”