Making the most of lost time will ensure ball season gets off the ground running.
With strong planning Foothills Minor Baseball Association is in a strong position to throw the first pitch on its season as soon as health restrictions in the province permit which took place on June 10 as Alberta moved into Stage 2 of its reopening.
“As an association we put a lot of time and energy into organizing this season before this three weeks pause,” said Foothills Minor Baseball president Matt Troolines. “It just so happened with the timing that we were one week into our house season, or single-A season.
“The (restrictions in May) threw a bit of a wrench into it, but I think we were lucky in that we had all that work done before that happened.”
Baseball Alberta released the planned schedule for its minor age groups with games to take place as soon as June 12-13, with the Province moving into Stage 2 of its reopening on June 10, as expected.
“We’re going to be right back at it with full games on weekends and also with provincials happening as well,” Troolines said.
The Outlaws are able to hit resume after the pause due in large part to its diligent work preparing for the season with tryouts, evaluations and one week of practice already in the books prior to the most recent shutdown.
“Things seem to be going very smooth, everybody in the association seems very receptive to going out on the field and getting out there in the sunshine and being with their teammates again,” Troolines added.
The Okotoks Dawgs chipped in by assisting the Outlaws with evaluations during the spring, allowing small groups to get viewings from some of the top coaches in the country.
“We hired them out and used their facility in March,” Troolines said. “We had to be pretty creative this year in how we did it because of the limitations. In years past, it was all of the 11U age group, half the group comes from this time to this time, there would be tons of people in the fieldhouse at any onetime.
“Whereas for this year for both of our groups, A and AA, we had to come up with a time period where we had five or six athletes come at a time.”
Troolines said there’s been marginally reduced numbers in its membership this season, with registration in the 470 range.
The Outlaws will still field teams in every age group in AA and approximately 50 teams registered in the house division. The only division that won’t field a team is in the 18U house league.
“It’s been slightly down, but still very promising given the climate that we’re able to put that many teams on the field,” he added.
With the slight delay to the start of the season, the provincial championships are being held later this year in the province with Tier IV and below competitions on the Aug. 15 weekend and for Tiers I, II and III on the Aug. 22 weekend. Provincial host sites have not yet been determined.
It’s a marked change from one year ago when restrictions forced the Foothills Outlaws to call off the season and run camps instead.
“I think people are ready, they’re so excited to be over this and get out of this time of uncertainty,” Troolines added. “And get back to some state that we’re used to and we know is really good for the development of our athletes and our kids, not just from an athletic perspective but an emotional perspective as well, to get their core groups and their friendships going again.”
For more information go to foothillsminorball.com.
