Brandon lands regional baseball event

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This article was published 09/11/2016 (3358 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of the top peewee baseball events in Canada is returning to Brandon in 2018.

The Dairy Queen 13-and-under National Western Championship, which features teams from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C., is scheduled for August 2018 at Simplot Millennium Park. The exact dates haven’t been set but it is expected to be either Aug. 10-12 or Aug. 17-19.

Brandon Minor Baseball Association president Blake Stephens said it’s a nice feather in the cap for an association that’s seeing continued improvement in registrations.

“We’ve had steady growth through the last four years numbers-wise and this is just a real culmination of all the hard work that the volunteers have put in,” Stephens said. “I think it’s important because whenever we can do something on a national stage or in this case a western Canadian stage, I think it’s really important to step up and represent Brandon.

“I just want to honour the volunteers that we have and want to be able to showcase the talent. The exposure for us is going to be awesome.”

Brandon last hosted in 2010 and the process to bring it back to the Wheat City began in January when Baseball Manitoba gave a heads-up to local associations that it would be seeking bids for the event.

Stephens, Glen Simard and Brandon First executive director Jackie Nichol spearheaded the proposal, with additional help coming from Brandon Minor Baseball’s executive committee of Norm Bootsman and David Martine.

Stephens also sought out the advice of Brad Schoonbaert, who was instrumental in Brandon hosting the event in 2010.

Nichol said she worked with minor baseball to prepare the bid, gathering community facts and providing logistical resources.

“Every event is important but this a great chance to showcase ourselves to the western provinces,” she said. “They’ve been doing some smaller events over the last year or so but we’ve certainly held these events in the past. It’s exciting to be able to do it again. We want to get our facilities in front of people from right across the country and this is a great chance to highlight our facilities and our community and our volunteer sector.”

Stephens thinks it may have helped that Brandon stepped up last summer to take on mosquito provincials when the host backed out at the last minute.

Baseball Manitoba executive director Morgan DePena said his organization’s competition committee looked at the bids in the province to determine which would be carried forward to Baseball Canada last week, where it was approved.

“I guess the facilities is a big part of it, and the number of events that Brandon has hosted itself played well,” he said. “And the fact that Brandon has its own airport plays in very well.”

This is the third time that Manitoba has hosted the event under its current partnership with Baseball Canada and the Western Canada Baseball Association, with Brandon hosting in 2010 and Altona in 2014. The event rotates among the four western provinces.

Although a national event is held, regional events are held in Central (Ontario and Quebec) and Atlantic (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, P.E.I., and Newfoundland and Labrador).

“Rather than just have 10 teams going to a national championship, this way we’re getting more teams going from all the provinces,” DePena said.

Some teams are also more apt to attend a regional event than a national championship, he said.

The tournament involves umpires from across Western Canada and DePena describes it as more formalized.

Work will likely begin midway through next summer on the two diamonds that will be used at Simplot Park, although the entire facility will be available in case weather or other problems create the need for additional diamonds.

The event must have grass infields and home run fences at the proper distance.

The batting cages also have to be replaced.

“Simplot Park is going on 17 years old now and it’s just like a house,” Stephens said. “Things start to go after 10 or 15 years and that’s where we’re at. We need to resod the grass infields on the peewee diamonds and we’ll need to put up some temporary fencing for the home run fences there. We also have to redo the mounds because we removed them for the fastball provincials that we hosted.

“We’re just hoping that the city will partner with us and help us with some of those capital improvements, which I expect they would with us hosting such a premier event.”

The 2016 event was held in Saskatoon with South Central and North Winnipeg as the Manitoba representatives. South Central took bronze, with British Columbia winning gold over Saskatchewan Five.

In 2010, three Manitoba teams competed at the event, with the host Brandon Knights, Midwest and the Winnipeg South Chiefs joined by Saskatchewan’s Saskatoon Braves, Saskatoon Blue Jays and Regina, Alberta’s Spruce Grove and Edmonton, and B.C.’s Ridge Meadow Royals and the Abbotsford Angels.

“My older boy was in mosquito last time we hosted it and I remember helping out then and it was a real neat event,” Stephens said. “I’m looking forward to it. I think it will be exciting.”

He added that the extra year to prepare is important.

About 30-50 volunteers will be needed, along with help from city workers.

The site is also busy as work begins on the nearby Boyd Stadium football fields.

“It’s going to be a great couple of years for the park,” Stephens said. “Football has broken ground and they’re going to be up and running and between football and us hosting the western Canadians and the provincial championships that we’ve already applied for, I think it’s going to be an exciting time for baseball in Brandon.”

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