By Nathan Kanter

Western Canadian Fastpitch Championships to hit the Battlefords

Jun 9, 2017 | 5:00 PM

Boys and girls softball teams will converge on the Battleford Flats ball diamonds this summer for the U-14 Western Canadian Fastpitch Championships from August 4-7.

This will be the second time in four summers the Battlefords will have an opportunity to host a Western Championships, as they hosted the U-18 tournament in 2014.

“This will help minor ball here a lot,” Battlefords Minor Softball Association vice-president Chris Belanger said. “It’s a huge event. It takes lots of organizing and preparing for it but the fundraising we do and the money it will bring in for minor softball is great.”

Belanger said they were told they would be hosting at the end of January.

The BMSA originally put in a bid in October and were up against Regina.

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In the end, Softball Saskatchewan’s board of directors voted in favour of the Battlefords.

“North Battleford is really strong now. They have a strong softball program so [the board] felt they were deserving of hosting this,” vice-president of Softball Saskatchewan and district seven director Yvonne Michnik said. “They hosted [the U-18’s] and did a very good job. So also because of that, they felt North Battleford was a good place to host this type of championship.”

There is a lot of work to do between now and August.

Sponsorship needs to get taken care of and tons of volunteers need to be brought on board, not to mention a banquet to feed nearly 300 people needs to be organized.

Money made from the event will go towards keeping BMSA registration fees as low as possible.

“We’re probably the cheapest sport in town,” Belanger said. “We’re right around that $100 a year for the kids. You can’t play any sport in town for $100 anymore.”

There’s also an economic benefit for the City of North Battleford and the Town of Battleford.

“It’s going to bring a lot of people into the city,” Michnik said. “Hopefully we have a lot of younger kids that come and see what softball is all about so that they next year or the year after say they want to play softball. It’s good to have something like that because it just promotes [the sport] more.”

There will be either eight or nine girls teams competing (depending on if the host North Battleford Bandits qualify at provincials or not), and six boys teams competing.

The hometown Bandits girls team will compete regardless of how they finish at the ‘B’ provincials in early July.

But coach Regan Lavallee made it clear she doesn’t want to simply waltz in and take the automatic spot.

“I’ve told the girls I don’t want to just qualify just because we’re hosting,” Lavallee said. “I want to legitimately qualify at provincials. It would be nice to take home another provincial gold and then do really well at Western’s.”

The top two teams from provincials earn berths to Western’s.

Last year, the U-12 Bandits won gold at provincials. Half of that U-12 team is now on the U-14 team that plays league ball in Girls Prairie League Softball, where they are currently 6-2. The U-14 GPLS team is the same team that will compete at provincials and host Western’s.

“It’s pretty huge to bring this to the community and show that softball is still alive,” Lavallee added. “Boys softball has kind of died out around our area but it’s just a big thing to bring and host for our association.”

Belanger added how important volunteers are for putting on such a big event.

“Any volunteers that we can find, we would be more than happy to use,” he said. “From keeping score to working the gate. Anything we can find. We’re always looking for volunteers. It’ll be a busy weekend.”

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NathanKanter11