Local minor ball kids got the chance to try their hand at fast pitch at the U15 Central Energy AAA team’s Fun Day last week.
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Fun Day at the Winkler ball diamonds last week
The team, which is gearing up to host the U15 Canadian Fast Pitch Championships next month, welcomed nearly 40 kids to the Parkland ball diamonds in Winkler.
“It’s an idea we’ve been tossing around for a couple of years now,” shared assistant coach Kevin Convery. “We thought it’d be nice for the current players to give back to the local minor ball community … it let the younger kids see the big girls in action and learn from them a little bit.
“We welcomed them onto the field, we did a little welcome cheer, and then we split up into groups,” Convery explained. “The younger kids got to do base running, hitting, throwing, and fielding ground balls with the older girls. They showed them some techniques and talked to them about how to hold a bat, how to swing a bat.”
It all wrapped up with a free hot dog supper courtesy of Gardenland Co-op.
Convery says they’d love for this to become an annual event for the Central Energy organization, which has several teams that draws players from all across the region.
While the point of the day was just to have some fun, it was also neat to see the future of the Central Energy team in the faces of the younger kids, he said.
“There were a few kids who are really talented and that we can see they have their technique down pat already.”
It’s been a busy summer for Central Energy as they prepare to host Softball Canada’s male and female U15 championships. The two tournaments will take over the ball diamonds in both Winkler and Morden Aug. 13-17.
Thirty-one teams featuring hundreds of players, coaches, and officials —not to mention all the family members coming out to cheer them on—are expected to attend.
“Planning is going really well,” Convery shared. “The executive committee meets on a regular basis and then all the different subcommittees have been doing lots of hard work to get ready.
“Each time we meet we get a little nervous because there’s still so much to do,” he laughed, noting, however, they’re confident it’s going to be a stellar week of high-quality ball.
They’re still looking for both volunteers and sponsors for the event.
“We’ve had a lot of volunteers step up since our last big request, but we could always use more,” Convery said, sharing they’re looking especially for people to act as scorekeepers and announcers at the games. “So if people are looking to do that, we could use a lot of help.”
If you’d like to get involved, head to www.softball.ca/u15womens to learn more.
