Baseball fans in the region received some big news recently, as the North Sask. River Baseball League announced their season will begin play in early July. (file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Take me out to the Ball Game

North Sask River Baseball League sets start date for season

Jun 29, 2020 | 3:30 PM

It was a home run announcement for baseball players and fans alike in northern Saskatchewan: baseball season is just around the corner.

The North Saskatchewan River Baseball League (NSRBL) has set a start date for their abbreviated season which will begin July 5.

Co-commissioner with the league, Kelvin Colliar, said he is happy to see the season come to fruition after months of hard work behind the scenes.

“We’re really, really happy [to get a start date confirmed],” Colliar said. “It’s one of those things where you put a lot of work into planning for the season and so to have it finally open up to where they can play this year is great. We were getting to that point where, had we delayed it another week or two, lots of teams would have just decided to not play this year.”

He said the timeline for a season was really getting down to the wire with many senior baseball leagues across the province having already announced they will not have a season this year. However, Colliar credits the passionate baseball communities in the region with showing faith in a workable solution given the circumstances with the ongoing pandemic.

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“We’ll be one of the few that does play, so we’re pretty happy about that,” he said. “It goes to show the dedication that the teams have and the communities have out in the northwest here.”

League play will commence with the year’s 10 teams split into two regional pools.

The Battlefords Trappers and North Battleford Beavers will be in the East Division, along with Meadow Lake, Mervin, and Standard Hill.

The West will feature Lloydminster’s two teams, Unity’s two teams, and Kindersley.

Each team will play a home-and-home with the others in their division to determine playoff seeding, based on a total of eight regular season games. They will then be reseeded into two separate groupings for the playoffs, which will be balanced based on their finish in the standings.

The playoffs will take place tournament style, beginning Aug. 8 and 9 in two predetermined locations, North Battleford and Lloydminster. The winner of each pool will then play each other in the league final in a best-of-three series that will wrap up by Aug. 21.

Colliar said while there will obviously be a few adjustments to get used to within the game, such as an increased attention to sanitation, ultimately the game of baseball is back; something worth celebrating for the teams and their communities.

“We feel confident, and teams feel confident we can manage the protocols set out by the SBA (Saskatchewan Baseball Association),” he said. “The teams that have been waiting to hear are excited and looking forward to playing some meaningful baseball. It will be a short season, but it should be a good season.”

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Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1