Empty baseball diamonds around Regina will be a thing of the past beginning on June 22, as outdoor sports have been given the green light to resume, as part of the first part of Phase 4 of Saskatchewan’s reopening plan.
“It’s very welcome news,” Baseball Regina president Rob Gartner said. “We’ve been waiting for a long time to get our sport going. We love baseball and we have a large number of players and parents who are dying to get out there onto the field.”
Gartner and the rest of the Baseball Regina board have been hard at work, meeting regularly to develop scenarios on what a return to the field will look like. And while Baseball Regina always had full intentions on playing a season this summer, there was some doubt, given the unknowns of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve been nervous, really since this started,” Gartner said. “As a board, we’ve been meeting weekly and we’ve been planning for this season to take place but we didn’t know if it would.”
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And while games won’t necessarily begin on Monday, teams will be able to practice and train for when Baseball Saskatchewan gives them the go-ahead to begin exhibition or league play. Baseball Saskatchewan has implemented a two-phase approach of their own, including a “Return to Train” phase, followed by a “Return to Play” phase.
“We will be ready on June 22 for our players to train and the teams to train together, and then when (Baseball Sask) gives the green light for us to return to play, we will be ready to play games,” Gartner said.
And what he’s looking forward to the most, is seeing the kids able to play the game they love once again, along with all the sounds that come with the game.
“We’re just looking forward and getting ready to get the kids those kids out there to play some baseball and hear the crack of the bat and the umpire’s calls and the great things that go with that,” Gartner said.
“We’re really excited to be able to contribute to our community feeling that sense of normalcy and getting the kids active.”
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