Bats heating up at Provincial Championships

It’s hard to describe a Manitoba summer without baseball.

At least, that’s definitely the case for the 203 teams across the province competing in the Baseball Manitoba Provincial Championships, running now through early August.

The baseball scene has grown substantially in the various communities across the province over the years, according to Jason Miller, executive director of Baseball Manitoba, and that growth is reflected in the continued expansion of the annual provincial championships.

“We’ve expanded our provincial events to include what we call Tier 1, 2 and 3 in the rural communities, and what we call Zone 2,” said Miller.

“And that has allowed smaller communities to host events that couldn’t have in the past. We lowered the number of teams that attend each event, but we expanded the events so more teams, more kids get to experience events, and it brings new hosts. It gets really exciting when smaller communities host events, and it brings people from around the province to different locations.”

Of the 31 provincial championship events overall, the first ones started last weekend with the 11U Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 competitions.

Week 2 of the provincial championships starts Friday with the 13U, 15U and 18U groups.

Miller says that before the pandemic, Baseball Manitoba hosted around 20 provincial championships, but efforts to include smaller communities have resulted in recent growth, a development he says the organization is proud of.

“It just continues to make our game more available,” said Miller. “It continues to make our game out there and easy for people to see, easy to access when that many people play and there’s that many events, and the word spreads.”

For young players, Miller says provincials are important for keeping them in the sport, as their biggest drop-off in numbers is at the youngest age group.

“It really is a great experience for the young players and something that we hope that they’ll remember for a lifetime, and hopefully they will continue to be a part of baseball in the future and into their adult lives because of these positive experiences as kids,” said Miller.

For the older age groups, provincials later this summer carry added importance, as winning in the 18U, 22U and senior categories secures a place at the 2025 National Championships set for the third week of August.

“From the participants’ perspective, the players get to experience an event rather than just a regular tournament,” said Miller. “Perhaps they’ve been to tournaments throughout the year, but our provincial championships are most like an event.”

As more smaller communities participate this year, Miller says hosting can build a legacy and benefit local ball programs through canteen and gate sales.

“From a host perspective, I get really excited about the passion and the commitment from the volunteer base to run an event like this,” said Miller.

“It really does build a community of people within the host committee, and then it usually provides a legacy for that town or for that site.”

zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca