Despite a challenging last two years due to the pandemic, the sport of softball has continued to grow and stay strong in the Battlefords community. (Facebook/Battlefords Minor Softball Association)

By Martin Martinson

Latest in softball

Battlefords Minor Softball to hold virtual AGM this month

Dec 9, 2021 | 1:20 PM

The Battlefords Minor Softball Association will be holding their Annual General Meeting (AGM) virtually this month, recapping the last year and looking ahead to the spring to come.

Taking place Dec. 19 via online stream, the meeting will begin at 7 p.m.

“We’re just going to talk about how everything went last year, where we are financially and where we’re at going into next year to get everyone on the same page in planning for it,” president of the association, Darren Russell said.

Coming off a tough 2020 season that saw essentially no games played, the 2021 softball season started out much the same, with even outside practices limited in number through the first month of May.

However, as the calendar flipped to June things eventually opened up, allowing for a return to gameplay, and then even provincials after that, where the local teams really went on to shine.

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The U16 and U19 teams took home gold medals, while the U14s made the semifinals for their age group in the bronze medal game, and the U12s gained valuable experience — many for the first time.

Russell said that pedigree just goes to show the growth of the game in the community and surrounding area has continued throughout the pandemic challenges, something they intend to only build on this year.

“I think it’s going to be a big year after what all of our teams were able to do at provincials, really finding that success,” he said. “We’re really looking forward to seeing just how softball continues to grow in the community now off of that with another big year ahead.”

On the financial side, Russell said minor softball has been helped out in a big way by supporters and grant opportunities, which have allowed the organization to continue to navigate the various challenges of the last two years, and come out okay on the other side.

“There’s definitely a loss, just because there wasn’t a lot of money coming in the year before, but we also hadn’t had a lot of expenses either,” he said. “Softball Saskatchewan had some grants which really helped organizations like ours out, and the city and the town helped us out too with grants, so financially it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been, thanks to that support.”

Included in preparations for the coming spring, Battlefords Minor Softball will also be looking for volunteers for the coming season, as well as people to fill board positions. For more information, or to be sent the link prior to the Dec. 17 deadline, email battlefordsminorsoftball@outlook.com.

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1