Mitch gets pitched good advice

Mitch Daly

MOST teenage boys would be too embarrassed to admit when they’ve got their fly undone.

But not Rochedale South softball player, Mitch Daly.

The 16-year-old catcher actually brought the humiliating act on himself after some advice he received from his respected club coach, Matt Torpey, to help improve his batting performance at this year’s national softball championships in Perth.

“I was batting really crap for the first half of the tournament,” Daly confessed.

“Matt rang me up and asked what was wrong. He’s also a catcher so he understands what I’m going through sometimes.

“I told him I couldn’t hit anything, so he told me next time I go up to the plate to bat, go up there with my fly undone and try and hit a single. It worked.

“My zipper actually broke during that game so I had to play the rest of the tournament with my fly undone.

“It was embarrassing, but it took my whole mind off the ball and I batted brilliant for the rest of the tournament.”

While the confident teen was almost assured a spot in the 2010 Australian under-19 men’s squad, Daly’s batting revival during the back-end stages of nationals, which were held in January, helped seal his position in the 28-man team.

Queensland finished a disappointing fourth place at nationals after host state, Western Australia scored nine runs in the fourth inning to eventually run out 10-3 winners and bundle Queensland out of the playoffs.

Daly, who is also a Muay Thai fighter, will represent his country during an international softball series to be held in Sydney in July.

The tournament is one of the main lead-up events to the next Junior Men’s World Championships to be played in Argentina in 2012.

Daly hopes to hold his place in the team so he can help Australia win an unprecedented fifth straight World title.

“There’s a lot of pressure to win this,” Daly, who plays at Redlands Softball Association, said.

“We don’t want to be known as the team that lost it.”