Pitcher Tate Pearce participating in the Prairie Baseball Academy World Series on Wednesday, Oct. 14. The game took place at Spitz Stadium, despite snowfall earlier that morning.
The crack of a baseball hitting the bat generates cheers from the crowd as the ball flies over the players on the field as the batter rounds the bases. Yes, it’s true, the sport of baseball is continuing despite COVID-19.
When organized sports were shut down in March, it left the future of players up in the air.
Although the temporary shutdown of sports may seem inconsequential compared to the greater health concerns the country is facing because of the pandemic, the lack of player development can have lasting impacts on players careers.
This is one reason why the Prairie Baseball Academy decided to continue play throughout the pandemic.
Head Coach Todd Hubka said they faced many challenges to be able to hold the season, with the main issue being the use of their indoor facilities.
“We have a beautiful training centre that our players have their dressing rooms in and we have our weight room and everything in there. The amount of people we can have in there in a time and that sort of thing has been the biggest challenge.”
The season has gone smoothly so far, with players getting used to new protocols they have to follow.
Varsity catcher Cooper Finch is happy with how things have unfolded so far.
“The season has been going well lately, it’s just a little bit different with the new COVID rules. You always have to wear masks and make sure we are staying in separate dugouts.”
Although they have been cleared to play, an issue that arose was what other teams they could play against.
The PBA has mostly been playing against each other with limited access to other teams.
“Usually in the fall we have a couple more teams come in, but this year because of the situation we’re in, the only team in the south zone we could play was the high school team, the Vauxhall Academy. We played them a couple weekends and other than that we have been inter-squadding,” said Hubka.
Finch says one of their biggest problems now is less weight room access for the players.
“It’s a little tough. We haven’t been able to go inside and use our weight room as much, but hopefully things will change soon and we’ll be able to get back inside. We need to get some more weight on the boys and get ready to hit the ball hard.”
The academy finished up their version of the World Series on Friday, with Hubka saying it has been a success.
“We’re happy with the way things are going.”
The new challenge facing the Academy is not solely COVID-19 based; the change in weather is now causing problems for how training will take place.
“Moving forward, when the snow hits the ground we have to try to figure out and manage our team, while only having a certain amount of people in the weight room,” said Hubka.
The academy is promoting the Little League Alberta 50/50 Cash Raffle Fundraiser which raises funds for the Junior Little League Canadian Championship, scheduled for 2021 in Lethbridge.
Ticket sales end on Oct. 27, with the draw taking place at Spitz Stadium on Oct. 30.