The Saskota Baseball League is scheduled to open its 2017 season on Tuesday night with all 10 teams in action.
The newest team in the senior men’s circuit, the Estevan-based Southeast Fireballs, will play their first game against the Wawota Pats at Mets Stadium south of Estevan. The Estevan Tower Wolves will visit the Carlyle Cardinals, the Oxbow Chiefs will visit the Arcola Threshers, the Redvers A’s will be at the Kenosee Cubs, and the Windthorst Pirates will be at the Carnduff Astros.
All five games will start at 6:30 p.m.
“It seems like each year the teams get stronger, so I expect steady competition throughout from most teams this year,” said David Lemieux, who is in his first season as the league’s president.
Each team will play an 18-game schedule. Most games will be played on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:30 p.m., although some of the games in Estevan will be at 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m., thanks to the lighting at Lynne Prime Park.
“I think now that the weather is starting to warm up a bit, I think you’ll see guys getting the itch to start playing,” said Lemieux.
The Fireballs are in their first year, but they aren’t an expansion team. The Lampman Pirates relocated to Estevan this year and became known as the Fireballs.
Lemieux believes some of the players who had been playing with Lampman were from Estevan, so the decision was made to play games in Estevan this season.
“It’s tough to lose Lampman because they’ve been in the league as the Lampman Cubs, A’s and Pirates, and they’ve always had a team,” said Lemieux. “It will be different, but it’s good that we replaced them, and that we didn’t just outright … lose a team.”
He hopes that Lampman can return to the Saskota at some point, particularly as minor ball programs continue to grow.
The transfer of the Pirates to Estevan is the only big change for the league this year, he said.
Teams will be looking to dethrone the Cardinals, who have won the league championship the last three seasons. He expects it will take good pitching and defence for a team to beat the Cardinals.
“Hits are tough to come by, and if you give up outs with errors, then that usually ends up biting you,” said Lemieux.
The annual year-end tournament, the Harbourne Cup, will be contested from July 28 to 30 in Kenosee Lake.
Lemieux noted it appears a lot of teams will be entering provincials following the Harbourne, which is another good sign for the league this season.
“As teams improve and grow as an organization, they realize that they have come a long ways, and they’ve improved a lot, so they want to go and test the waters against other teams,” said Lemieux. “I think it’s encouraging that we’re seeing that.”
