The Estevan Drillers baseball team is hosting the 2015 Twilite Masters Baseball Tournament this weekend at the newly rebuilt Mets Stadium in Woodlawn Regional Park with a goal of putting on a good show for local ball fans, while also raising some money to help pay for the renovations.
Joe Lingelbach, Drillers player and volunteer builder in the Mets Stadium revival, said the Masters Tournament is made up of players 45 years of age and older, so fans coming out to watch the July 24 to 26 tournament will see players up to 70 years of age taking swings, running the base paths and chasing down flies. He said, basically, people in the stands will witness love for the game.
“I don’t think anybody tries to intentionally injure anyone (to score a run),” said Lingelbach, noting opening ceremonies are slated for 4 p.m. Friday. “I think most injuries are self-inflicted out here, but you will have some very good players and some very good teams. Then there are some other teams who may not be as good, but the effort is still there. They may not be able to reach the ball anymore and they may not be able to run as quickly as they could before, but they still have it in them that they want to try to do it.
“That’s what it’s all about. It’s about coming out here, having some fun, enjoying yourself and just becoming a little boy again.”
Lingelbach said nine teams from across Saskatchewan, including Estevan, will play in the three-day tournament, which will see games begin at 8 a.m. each day with ball being played continually until the last game of the night ends shortly before dark.
He said Estevan last hosted a Twilite Baseball Tournament in 2010 when the Maxi division (35 years of age and older) came to this city to play. The Mets Stadium had to be renovated before that tourney as well, but the cleanup doesn’t compare to what was needed to get the old ball diamond back to playing condition this time around.
“After 2010, of course, we had the flood of 2011,” said Lingelbach. “Well, we couldn’t get back on the diamond until 2012 to start the rebuild and at that time we took down the lower fencing (and) we put up the six-foot fencing. We installed a 30-foot backstop from the old backstop. It’s a totally rebuilt diamond. Even the dugouts, the frame is original, but the rest of it is all new.”
To complete the rebuild Lingelbach and the over-35 and over-45 ball players who did the labour relied on the support of local businesses to provide materials and sponsorship to get the project done. Lingelbach said there are a number of recreational facilities in Estevan, including some new ones, but that doesn’t mean fixing up an old ballpark that can still provide some service to the community and a place for a few old-timers to play a game they love isn’t something worth undertaking.
“We felt it was important for the park because it was such a devastating flood,” he said. “It gives us a place to come out. It all comes down to, you ask anyone of these guys why they come out (and they say) they feel young again. Baseball is a young man’s game, but you feel young when you play it no matter what age you are.”
