The hometown Canterbury Red Sox have won the past 10 tournaments, winning 57 games in a row in the process.
With veteran Black Sox pitcher Michael Gaiger on the mound and a swag of national league players, Canterbury has every reason to believe it will roll to another title at the Smokefree Ballpark.
"It's like the Otago NPC team playing the Crusaders," Otago coach Gary Anderson said yesterday.
"That's just the reality of the way the sport has evolved. A lot of players have moved to Canterbury to further their game and that's understandable. But we've got our own talent. This is a chance for our young players to test themselves against a pretty powerful side."
Otago will also play Canterbury Under-19, Nelson and Southland at the tournament, needing to win at least two games to have a chance of making the final.
Both Nelson (Marty Grant) and Southland (Penese Iosefo) will have experienced and dominant starting pitchers.
Anderson said Otago had a small core of players who had been national age group representatives.
"We've got talent and we've got guys who are still young but have plenty of experience."
Key to Otago's hopes are its hitters at the top of the order, Chris Anderson, Tim Howard, Daniel Tarapi and Scott Cartwright.
They were exceptional players but were disadvantaged by not getting intense top-level softball every week, Anderson said.
Tarapi and Cartwright are protected players in the Southern Pride squad for next month's national league, while both Anderson and Wayne Sangster have played at the top level before.
Otago's two main pitchers - Scott Sutherland, whose father played for Otago, and Jarrod Walsh - have both been picked up from Canterbury.
Other interesting players include rising pitcher Ben Watts and Jamie Robinson, a former Auckland club player who is now based in Wanaka.
Otago heads to the tournament in confident mood after thrashing Southland in the Bates Shield.
The Jefferies Cup is a team short following the withdrawal of Marlborough, which has a depleted squad and was not allowed to call in a former player now based in Wellington.
Otago men
For Jefferies Cup
Chris Anderson, Daniel Tarapi, Scott Cartwright, Tim Howard, Wayne Sangster, Jeremy Tisdall, Jamie Robinson, Scott Sutherland, Jarrod Walsh, Mark Ahlfeld, Adam Whelan, Ben Watts, Scott Coutts.
