Fastball season set to kick-off
They say everything goes in cycles when it comes to sports registration, and based on their numbers for the coming season, things are definitely looking up for Moose Jaw Minor Girls Fastball.
With things kicking off during their annual opening day ceremonies at Optimist Park this past Monday, more than 380 players took to the diamonds across six age divisions, making for plenty of busy nights at minor fastball diamonds throughout the city for the season.
“It was really strong,” said MJMGF president Craig Hemingway of registration for 2018. “For just local kids registering we had 307, which is up 33 from last year, and when we factor in all the out-of-town teams that have teams in our leagues in various divisions, we’ll have around 380 girls playing ball in Moose Jaw.
“We’re really excited to get the season going, we were pushed back a week by the weather like most folks were with outdoor sports, but we’re looking forward to kicking off on Monday night.”
While the vast majority of league games will take place on the four diamonds at Optimist Park, work is near completion on two more facilities – workers and volunteers have been hard at work restoring the old diamonds at Western Development Museum. “We’ve had a lot of help from a lot of different sponsors in the city who have donated both money and materials to help that happen,” Hemingway said. “Right this second they aren’t quite ready, but by the time the first game is scheduled there for May 14, they’ll be set to go.”
Given the amount of work needed to get the fields up to playing shape, the retrofit has been extensive: new dugouts, new wiring and most importantly, plenty of time in the outfield dealing with the always problematic gopher holes.
“Those diamonds have been used for practice over the years, but you could never hold a proper practice without having the outfield,” Hemingway said. In addition to expanding the number of fields for house league play, the new diamonds will also enable MJMGF to host larger tournaments in coming years.
As for this season, the leagues will host five tournaments -- Pee Wee ‘A’ girls May 2527, Mites girls June 2-3, Bantam ‘B’ girls June 8-10, Squirt ‘B’ girls and Midget ‘B’ girls June 15,
The Moose Jaw Ice representative teams have also been chosen for the coming campaign, with the Squirt ‘A’ Ice coached by Jody Brown, Pee Wee ‘A’ Ice led by Don Anderson, Pee Wee ‘B’ coached by Shawn Kohl, Vicki Halverson leading the Bantam ‘A’ Ice and Grant Mackie coaching the Midget ‘B’ Ice.
Seeing so many teams opting to return to ‘A’ calibre ball this season shows just how competitive the local squad are becoming.
“There are a lot of good players in town and it’s great to see that kind of development,” Hemingway said. “Hopefully they all have a lot of success this season.”