High school baseball dominates local slate
HIGH SCHOOL BADMINTON TEAMS COMPETE FOR BERTHS AT SOUTH ZONES
Incredible as it seems to me, high school baseball has already hit the basepaths. Perhaps diamonds truly are forever.
Again this season there are two loops on the area scene.
The Southern Alberta High School Baseball League
(sahsbl.wixsite.com/sahsbl) is well into its fourth decade of operation.
This year there are 21 varsity teams on the docket. I can remember years-gone-by where the number hit, or at least very closely approached, 30 — even more counting now defunct junior varsity units.
The 2017 Southeast Division includes Vauxhall, Taber W.R. Myers, Brooks, Milk River Erle Rivers, Foremost, Maple Creek (yes Maple Creek, Saskatchewan), Dunmore Eagle Butte, Medicine Hat Crescent Heights, Medicine Hat High and Oyen South Central.
The Northwest Division members are Cardston, Vulcan County Central, Crowsnest Consolidated, Fort Macleod F.P. Walshe, High River Highwood, Nanton J.T. Foster, Kainai, Magrath, Pincher Creek Matthew Halton, Claresholm Willow Creek and Picture Butte.
The (let’s call it) Lethbridge and District High School Baseball League is a much newer offshoot circuit. Members this season include Catholic Central, LCI, Chinook, Coaldale Kate Andrews and Raymond. All games are played in the ’Bridge at the upscale Lloyd Nolan and Spitz venues. Thanks were expressed to
Kevin Kvame by Catholic Central associate principal/league commissioner Anthony
Vercillo for Kevin’s accommodations in making those Fields of Dreams available. The commish noted Chinook hosts a tournament May 11-13, with playoffs set for May 15-18. ••• The local badminton season is somewhat disjointed this year due to the Easter holidays. Medicine Hat hosts the South Zone Badminton Championships April 26. Beforehand, all six districts must determine their reps. The City of Lethbrige is one of those districts. I see the Lethbridge City Championships are served up this afternoon and evening at Chinook. ••• Next time around in this space I’ll look at the Southern Alberta High School Girls Slopitch League, which does not make its 2017 debut until after school Easter holidays.
WELLSIE’S WORLD — I’m writing this piece before Tuesday’s game against the invading Gas City horde, but regardless of that result my favourite Lethbridge Hurricanes original shareholder would be tickled the lads are on a playoff run. Me too, not least of which from a financial perspective. I love to see that debt paid down.
I do wish the powers that be would have found a way to outfit the open Enmax Centre end with perhaps 1,000 retractable individual chair seats, ala one side of the University of Lethbridge 1st Choice Savings Centre, or the Lethbridge Community College Val Matteotti Gym, when the reno was done, though. More gate money is better, eh.
Heck, I could even go for pull-out bleachers. And, yes, I was advocating for more pews in this space before the building remodel was set.
I’m pretty sure finding (let’s guess) under $500,000 for increased capacity in relation to an approximate eventual $34-million facelift budget would have been a lot easier to pull off than it will be now, or in the future.
I had planned to lead this section noting former Lethbridge Broncos Willie Desjardins, Darryl Sutter and Lindy Ruff had all departed their NHL head coaching gigs over the last few days, leaning heavily on how remarkable it was three players from one era had concurrent bench boss runs in the world’s best loop. Imagine then how disappointed (I’m nothing if not competitive) I was to see
Randy Jensen had beat me to the punch laying out the front page of Tuesday’s Herald. Bravo Randy.
Figuratively bloodied, but ultimately undeterred, I pressed on to find the trio in question had actually all been part of the 1976-77 Broncos roster (Desjardins last campaign; Sutter and Ruff went on to much larger subsequent roles.)
Yes, truly amazing.