It’s going to be another busy year for the Estevan Minor Baseball Association.
The local house leagues for the association will start up on April 29. The association has teams in six different divisions: junior rally cap, senior rally cap, under-11 (formerly mosquito), under-13 (formerly peewee), under-15 (formerly bantam) and midget.
The season in the house leagues will continue until the middle of June, when champions will be crowned in each of the divisions.
There will also be several age rep. teams competing in the AAA level: the Steel Reef Brewers in the under-11 division, the U13 TS&M Brewers (U13), the U15 Brewers and the Southeast midget Twins.
The midget team will be part of the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League, and will have players from Estevan, Weyburn and other southeast communities.
The other three teams will compete in Baseball Regina. This is the first season in which they have all been known as the Brewers; previously they each competed under different names.
“It’s so that everybody has the same uniforms and the same name,” said minor baseball president Joe Williamson. “It will build a face for the AAA program.”
The AAA teams will open their seasons in early May. The U11 team will have a tournament in Estevan on May 4 and 5.
The U15 team is back in Estevan after an absence of several years. The last few seasons, they have been part of a southeast team that has played out of Alameda.
Williamson said the total number of registrations is up from a year ago. He cited online registration as making a big difference for the organization.
This year was the first time that online registration was an option.
“It was excellent. It was a lot easier for everybody,” said Williamson.
The association was still at city-wide registration in April, but it was a lot less stressful than in previous years, since most people opted to sign up online.
Williamson said the kids in Estevan Minor Baseball are looking forward to the upcoming season. The teams in the AAA ranks should be strong, and the house league teams will have fun throughout the season.
