There’s nothing like the joy of breaking in a new home.
Okotoks Black Dawg Ramon Valdez hit the first home run ever at the Tourmaline Midget Baseball Field across from Riverside Park on April 17.
“This place is awesome,” said Valdez, who also hit the second home run in the facility with a three-run shot on April 22.
“It feels like it is ours. When we were playing at Seaman Stadium it always felt like it was for the Collegiate Dawgs.”
The Tourmaline Field will hold its official opening on May 3 as the kick-off to the Dawgs Midget-Bantam Tournament this weekend with teams from across western Canada and Montana.
The talent on display at the tournament will be so high that scouts from major leagues and Team Canada are expected to attend.
Tourmaline Field was built to accommodate the ever-growing Midget program with the Dawgs Academy. Although the pitcher’s mound is still 60.6 feet from home plate and the bases 90 feet apart just like Seaman Stadium, it’s a ballpark for younger athletes.
“This park is built for high school kids,” said Valdez, a student at Holy Trinity Academy. “It’s a lot easier to hit in (than Seaman Stadium).”
Tourmaline features an infield made of field turf, which is artificial but if it looked and felt anymore like real grass a horse would eat it.
“With this turf it really extends our season a lot,” Thomas said. “When the snow is gone, we can just jump on the field. At Seaman Stadium when the snow is gone it takes a good week to two weeks to get it into shape.”
The turf is similar to what is used at McMahon Stadium by the Stampeders and at Rogers Centre for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Thomas said the new field will allow Okotoks to host large events.
“It takes two premier facilities to host major events like Alberta provincials this year,” Thomas said. “We are hoping to host the Canada Cup and the National championships in the future.”
These tournaments host hundreds of players, coaches and parents who will spend money in the Okotoks economy.
Tourmaline Field is receiving the finishing touches prior to this week’s tournament. Seats were scheduled to be installed last week.
The field is just another feather in the ball cap of the Okotoks Junior Dawgs Academy and the organization’s strive to be the best baseball academy in Canada.
As well as Seaman Stadium and Tourmaline Field, there is the Duvernay Fieldhouse and on June 1, the new Dawgs Bantam Diamond will be completed.
The building of Tourmaline Field was a joint venture with the Town who contributed the infrastructure and the parking area.
Tourmaline Field
Facts about the Tourmaline FieldSeating Capacity: 500 stadium seats; concourse seating for 150 and berm seating for 1,000.Dimensions: 320 ft, left field; 385 ft., centre field; 310 ft, right fieldFacilities: Complete "Field Turf" infield; natural grass outfield; two batting cages and two bullpen mounds in outdoor training centre; visitor's bullpen mound; press box with state of the art sound and public address system; Fairplay scoreboard; field lights.
