Solid local support for Baseball Provincials

Details

Published on Saturday, August 5, 2017

Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Banner

The call for volunteers appears to have been heard for the 2017 Senior ‘AA’ Provincial Baseball Championship. The event, scheduled for Aug. 11-13 in Neepawa, will see as many as 400 people from across Manitoba converge on the community for this premier sporting event.

In total, eight baseball teams will participate in the weekend, including Santa Clara reps, the Neepawa Cubs (host club) and Portage Padres (pennant winners). Other teams involved are the Cardinals (Brandon), Boissevain (Southwest League), Springfield (Winnipeg), Pilot Mound (Border League) and two wild card entries from Morden and Oak River.

Neepawa Cubs player/coach Scott Newton said the efforts to get all the fields ready for the weekend are well underway. The main field has been maintained, while diamond two was upgraded with new red clay. The clay was recently placed on the pitcher’s mound, home plate and second base. Newton noted that the support of Sumpoint Acres, Pat Baker and Dave Cameron was instrumental in getting that completed.
As for the recent search for volunteers to assist with the staging of the weekend, Newton said that the response from Neepawa has been positive.

“The early numbers are looking very good, there’s been great community support so far and it is much appreciated.  As for during the event, there’s about 140 shifts to fill. Those shifts include gate keepers, grounds crew, score keepers, announcers and workers for the concession stand and beer gardens. We have many of those spots filled, but we could still use a few more people for the last few shifts, so if anyone is available and would like to help, please feel free to contact us and we’ll arrange something,” noted Newton. “The biggest area right now, where we could use some extra help, is getting someone to work the scoreboard for the main field. So if you have a kid that’s capable of this, be sure to give me a shout. We are also looking for kids to help shag fly balls in the home run derby on Friday. 

Anyone interested in helping out with the event is asked to contact Scott Newton, either via phone at (204) 841-4727, or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . As for the team itself, Newton indicated that they are excited about hosting provincials.
“It’s not every year you get to play in a provincial championship, so we’re looking forward to that. We definitely feel as though we have a team that can compete, we just need to come out hitting the ball,” stated Newton.
The first scheduled game for Neepawa will be on Friday, Aug. 11 against Springfield. Opening pitch at diamond one is scheduled for 6:00 pm.