For players, this summer’s Flin Flon-Creighton Slo Pitch League season sure felt like a success. Off the field, things weren’t as simple.
This season saw fewer teams and players take part than in years past, and a major tournament was cancelled due to a lack of volunteers.
Needed improvements for local ballparks are on the way, but funds and volunteers will be required.
“Last year, we had a great year because we had a bunch of volunteers,” said league president Trevor Thompson. “This year, we wound up having to cancel our fun tourney because we didn’t have any volunteers, and we didn’t raise any money.”
Fix-up work is also needed on the league’s main ballparks in Creighton and at Centoba Park in Flin Flon. This includes new fencing, infield dirt and dugout repairs, especially at Centoba.
There’s no guarantee the work will be completed quickly.
“It’s depressing because I can see it’s going to take a lot longer, more permits, everything,” said Thompson. “We still need to go around to different businesses to get quotes for how much they’d charge us to get fences
put in.”
But there has already been some good news, as support has come in from local businesses.
“We’ve been going around to the community, and they’ve been awesome,” said Thompson.
And despite the cancellation of the yearly fun tournament, teams and players have been volunteering for league events. Thompson hopes to get more people involved.
This season also saw advertisements for local businesses pop up on the outfield fences of all three fields at Centoba Park, meaning more revenue for improvements and tournaments.
“There’s about 12 or 13 businesses that put signs up there, which makes things look a lot better,” said Thompson. “Instead of just seeing fences clear through, it helps spruce it up and shows that those businesses care.”
Other plans being discussed include a possible proposal with a league in The Pas that could lead to a winter ball tournament in the North. No concrete plans have been set, but some preliminary discussions have taken place.
