Whitehorse Daily Star

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George Arcand

Diamonds are in good shape as softball season set to begin

Softball Yukon will be ready for next week’s start of minor softball, and for the beginning of the adult coed season the following week.

By Chuck Tobin on April 26, 2016

Softball Yukon will be ready for next week’s start of minor softball, and for the beginning of the adult coed season the following week.

Softball Yukon executive director George Arcand said Monday the early spring has meant the fields have been available for practice much earlier this year than in years past.

“And people have been taking advantage of that,” he said.

Arcand said minor softball begins Monday, and the uptake in registration was swift.

All divisions are full, with the exception of the U-16 division for 15- and 16-year-olds, Arcand explained.

He said there are approximately 340 kids and youth registered, beginning with five- and six-year-olds in the U-6 learn to play division through to the U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14 and U-16 divisions.

“It’s unfortunate for those that did not get in but we just don’t have enough ball fields,” Arcand said. “And minor soccer is the same. We are both experiencing lots of kids coming out.

“We were full two weeks after we put out the registration, so we have no room left expect in the U-16.”

He said the U-8 through to U-14 divisions play fast-pitch, while the U-16 division plays slo-pitch to prepare the youth for a move into the adult slo-pitch league.

The grass fields adjacent to the Pepsi Softball Centre and diamonds one and two inside the complex will be ready, Arcand said.

“They have all been cut and they are showing lots of green,” he said. “So they are in really great shape.”

In addition to the annual Dustball slo-pitch tournament scheduled to begin July 7, Softball Yukon will also be hosting the Men’s and Women’s Canadian Slo-Pitch Championships in early August.

Arcand said the provinces have until May 1 to declare if they’ll be sending a team or teams to Whitehorse for the championships, so it’s uncertain how many will be participating.

Some provinces may be sending more than one team others may not be sending any, Arcand explained.

He said playoffs to select teams to represent their provinces would have been held last year to give the clubs a year to prepare, and now they until Sunday to confirm.

As a result of local qualifiers last summer, The Guns and Dave’s Cleaning earned the right to represent the Yukon in the men’s championship while Fountain Tire and The Sistas won the right to represent the territory in the women’s championship.

The men get underway Aug. 7 and the women Aug. 9.

Arcand said Softball Yukon has been told to expect about 16 men’s teams and 10 women’s.

As usual, Dustball is being held on the second weekend of July, though the second weekend is coming somewhat early this year, as the July 1 Canada Day holiday falls on the previous Friday.

Arcand said six teams have already registered for the tournament, including a team from Victoria.

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