Revised - The crack of a bat on a ball is being heard around Whitehorse again.

Whitehorse Minor Softball started this week. The Whitehorse Coed Slopitch League is scheduled to open May 24.

The Star talked to outgoing Softball Yukon executive director George Arcand, who has been at the helm for around 40 years. This is his last trip around the bases for Softball Yukon.

The organization held a meet-and-greet recently at the Yukon Inn banquet room to kick off the new season.

“The meet-and-greet is held every year to invite the players to come and talk about the upcoming season, what we’ve been planning over the winter, listen to them as well and give a few prizes away and everybody kind of kicked the dust off from the winter and say hi to guys you haven’t seen all winter. It’s just a really neat way we’ve found to bring a couple other people out to talk about the coming ball season,” explained Arcand.

Despite this being his last season, it’s business as usual for Arcand.

“It’s like every other season I had to go through. Trying to find people and getting the buildings cleaned and serviceable and at the same time getting the lawns done.

“We’ve been down to Robert Service and cleaned that up and now we’re going across the road. It’s just a multitude of things that happen every spring when you try to open up ballparks.”

Regarding his retirement, Arcand said, “I’m so busy usually during the day that I don’t really have time to think about it. It’s coming, but it’s sort of quite a bit down the road yet.”

This season follows a couple of chaotic ones.

“We didn’t do anything in 2020,” recalled Arcand. “We shut down completely.

“In ‘21, we had kind of a partial season in the sense that we had to do pods and all kinds of things COVID-related, which was OK. But then we had Grad cause a lot of COVID shutdown and so we lost four or five weeks because of that in the middle of the season.

“It was OK, for those guys who did get a chance to get out to the ball field, it was good but they’re muchly looking forward to this season, from everything I can see, to having a full roster.”

Arcand said it’s important to have an interruption-free season this year, but “I don’t think anyone’s going to commit hari-kari if it doesn’t happen but it’s important for the state of mind.

“I think everybody’s trying to find the new normal and if this one can be something that helps that along, then that’s great, and at this point, the league is planned,” said Arcand.

“There’s 500-plus kids playing and there’ll be 700 or eight or 900 adults. All the registrations aren’t in yet. We’re still going through that. So it’ll be good.

“I think it will be great for the psyche in the sense of being able to do some things that were kind of normal in 2019,” he added.

There are roughly 41 teams in the co-ed league and about eight teams in men’s and women’s slopitch, as well as about 40 kids’ teams. Those numbers are right around the same as in 2019, before the pandemic.

Arcand said there are no notable changes this year.

“No. We’re just trying to make it work. Dustball’s back, and we’re hosting a National Championship at the end of July.”

The Dustball tourney will be welcomed back with open arms by the softball community.

“It’s on the website for people who are interested, so it’s gonna happen,” stated Arcand.

“They just have to go to the website and they can register.”

The National Championship will have men’s and women’s slo-pitch teams.

“I’m guessing that we’re gonna hopefully see eight or 10 teams fly in and eight or so teams of Yukoners playing,” related Arcand.

“It’s a bit of a unique year,” he added.

“We’re a month behind, so the snow, the continuous rain, the cold weather is not helping.

“But we’re trying to find our way through it and hopefully if we get the fields dry and ready to use, then maybe it will get better as we go through the summer.”

As for his impending retirement, Arcand explained why now is the time to hang up his cleats.

“I’m done. I’ve had enough. Time to retire. Let other folks carry on. I’m looking to get the hell out of snow country. The last two years is ridiculous, so if that’s what the future holds, then I can retire in warmer climates.”

“I’m 75 years old. If I don’t do something now, then I’ll be dead and still doing this job.

“I’d rather spend some time with my son and his family. He lives in Comox and it just made sense.” Arcand is planning on buying a house in Comox.

He said the slo-pitch league is only a small part of what Softball Yukon runs.

“We’ve got all the minor kids and all the ballparks we look after and all that kind of stuff,” said Arcand.

Needless to say, there are some memories that stand out for Arcand.

“Getting the Pepsi complex built. We opened it in ‘83 and we’ve been working on it ever since. The facility has brought us the ability to do national championships, world championships, etc.,” said Arcand.

“The memories all come because of the complex. If we didn’t have the complex, we wouldn’t be able to do any of those things,” he added.

When asked if he considers the Pepsi Softball Centre his legacy, Arcand responded “I guess if there’s any such thing as a legacy – I’m pleased and proud that I had a part in it, so whenever I leave, I leave, but hopefully those that come after me look after it.”

Not surprisingly, Arcand has seen some changes in his time.

“The ball has been there all along,” said Arcand.

“It isn’t always fast-pitch, slo-pitch – the game has changed and slo-pitch came along and so in my time, when I started, there was only fast-pitch. In that time that I’ve been around, it’s changed to slo-pitch and – co-ed slo-pitch, men’s and women’s, it’s kind of taken the place of fast-pitch – not really played in Whitehorse anymore but still played in Dawson (City).”

As for his plans for the future “I seriously have no idea,” asserted Arcand.

“I get to the point where I’m actually on the road or however I get there and I’ll figure it out when I get there.”

There is no timeline on when Arcand will be moving.

“I said I would stay and we’ll do this season and – it’s our first year back after COVID in any sense of normal, so there’s lots going on and hopefully it all comes together.”