Sundre Minor Ball’s registration and apparel night was held Monday, March 9 at the West Country Centre.
Although players can still be signed up, coordinators said registrations would at this point be subject to a late fee.
Susie Smith, baseball coordinator, and Michele Blackhurst, softball coordinator, said when contacted that teams are shaping up nicely with practices expected to start indoors at the Sundre Community Centre gym later in April. Once the fields clear up, practices will move out on the diamonds.
“If it ever quits snowing!” said Smith.
Games will get underway in May with the season wrapping up in June, they said.
Baseball teams are shaping up nicely, said Smith.
“We had lots of interest this year,” she said.
There is a midget team this year, also referred to as 18-U for baseball, as well as one bantam, or 15-U, team. Last year, she said there were no 18-U teams and two 15-Us.
“We’ve got quite a few coaches willing to help out,” she added.
Of course additional helping hands are always welcome. Anyone interested in getting involved can contact either Smith at 403-638-1704 or Blackhurst at 403-638-1428.
Overall, there are more than half a dozen teams lined up to play in the Chinook Baseball League, but Smith said a final number was not yet confirmed last week as some registrations were still being processed.
Sundre Minor Ball is also looking at the possibility of hosting a couple of tournaments this year, and organizers encourage local fans to come out and cheer any time during regular season games, she said.
“Our ball diamonds are usually filled every night of the week.”
Blackhurst also said the registration event went well, with about 45 girls registered to play softball so far.
“It’s pretty close to last year,” she said.
That will break down to five teams: two U-12s, two U-14s and one U-10, she said.
The softball squads don’t technically play in a league or division, she said, explaining that a game scheduling meeting is hosted in Red Deer in April, when teams from Central Alberta gather and book games for the season.
Organizers generally aim to “stick pretty close to home” and line up games against teams from nearby communities including Didsbury, Olds and Innisfail, she said.
Later this season, Blackhurst said Sundre Minor Ball is, in partnership with Softball Alberta, also planning to again host a softball clinic at the Sundre High School gym on April 25-26 that will involve professional players from Softball Canada coaching the kids. Anyone interested in registering for that event can do so through SoftballAlberta.ca by clicking on Clinics/Camps under the Players tab on the homepage.
The clinic was held last year for the first time, and was successful enough that organizers decided to give it another crack at the bat, she said.
When contacted last week, she said about 15 players had already signed up for the clinic, and that a minimum of 30 are required for the program to proceed.
Smith said on Monday, March 16 that the organization remains hopeful practices can begin next month, but that the situation could change depending on developments with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic.
