Thoughts of the area’s youth turn to summer’s annual pastime this week.
Estevan Minor Baseball hosted its first free spring clinic for bantam and midget aged players from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Estevan Leisure Centre’s multipurpose room on Tuesday. Hopefuls for the Southeast Performance Pump Services midget AAA Twins had a bit more spring in their step as the club prepares to host the 2017 Baseball Saskatchewan championships from July 20 to 23 at Lynn Prime Park.
“With it being at our home diamond, it’s a big deal,” said Twins head coach Blaine Kovach, who helps instruct the bantam and midget camp with Twins assistant coach Kent Phillips. “It’s going to be a big push for us this year to really do well in the standings and our league because it is our league standings that determine who makes provincials. So, the better we do the better pool we’ll have and the better way we play will help us perform.”
Kovach said the championships will feature eight to 10 of the top midget AAA teams from the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League competing in a round robin and playoffs at the two diamonds at Lynn Prime Park over the three days for the chance to be crowned the best team in the province. He said the tournament will bring hundreds of players, family members and fans to the Energy City over that late July weekend and their goal is to be a tough but welcoming host.
“The city teams, they have already done their drafts for players for their teams,” he said. “Lots of their guys work out all winter long (while) lots of guys in our area they take the winter off. They play hockey and they do other things. Which is great, it keeps them in shape. But now especially with midget AAA provincials coming and this is the highest calibre of midget ball you can play, guys have got to start thinking baseball and get ready for the season.”
The Estevan Minor Baseball bantam and midget clinics are free of charge for interested participants and will run from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Estevan Leisure Centre multipurpose room until the end of March.
A mosquito and peewee aged players’ free clinic is also being run from 7 to 8 p.m. at the multipurpose room on Thursdays. Local coaches provide instruction during the hour-long sessions and the only thing asked is kids show up with their bat, glove, gym shoes and a desire to play some ball.
“The primary focus on these ones is to get the guys in the cage and hit,” said Kovach. “We also do a lot of bullpen, a lot of pitching work to just get the guys arms active and ready for the season. The way things are going it feels like spring time is sneaking up faster than it usually does, so it’s a better time now to start throwing than it would to be waiting a little bit longer.”
