Tournament organiser Grant Clark said it would be a tough but valuable tournament for the inexperienced Wanganui side.
"It's going to be a tough road but they'll learn from each game," he said. Wanganui last hosted the tournament in 2012 and there was a healthy crowd at yesterday's opening day.
"The is great because the atmosphere with kids softball is huge."
Clark said he'd like to see a little league started in Whanganui and there were good number playing softball in the city.
Also keen on player development an retention is former White Sox player, coach and Softball New Zealand hall-of-famer Naomi Shaw, who is at the tournament as an officer for the national body.
She had been impressed by the talent on show.
"I've been really pleasantly surprised with not only the numbers but the standard of play here," she said.
"There's some very very good individuals here for their age. And it's really good to see senior players putting time back into the game."
Tournaments such as these were great for identifying talent and players who were noticed would be marked "for future consideration", she said. While talented players were known in the big centres "we always get surprised in the smaller regions".
Shaw said the number of kids in softball had been increasing over the past two years and national tournaments helped keep players in the game. "The experience and opportunity is crucial at this age.
"It's how they're going to find out the standard they need to reach. That's the only way you can improve. "Every top softballer started here."
