Minor baseball in Flin Flon and Creighton was set for a banner year. Not anymore - the Flin Flon/Creighton Minor Ball Association has shut down the season due to COVID-19.
Darcy Poochay, association president, said the organization planned on working with other communities to bring more competition in 2020. Those plans have been postponed to next season.
“Before all of this happened, we had talked with The Pas,” he said.
“They were starting up their own league and we were looking to have some games back and forth with them, so we were really hoping that we could do that this year. With this stuff going on, everything was kiboshed.”
Poochay added the league was reaching out to outlying areas to bring in more players.
“It’s heartbreaking, especially for the little kids,” he said.
“We were looking at a lot of things this year. It’s so unfortunate this had to happen. We’ll just look for next year and hope for a bigger turnout.”
Baseball Saskatchewan, which Flin Flon/Creighton Minor Ball is affiliated with, suspended all leagues in March with the goal of starting the season on schedule. The season is now on indefinite hold. Outdoor recreation is listed in phase four of Saskatchewan’s opening plan, but the province is still in phase one of that plan.
“We were watching what everyone else was doing, watching the news, hoping for good news,” Poochay said.
“When everything started to go south, that’s when we said, ‘No, we shouldn’t have a season with the kids.’ We didn’t want to put anybody at risk.”
While Baseball Saskatchewan still hopes to put a season together, Poochay said he didn’t want to risk it up north.
“It’s a bummer,” Poochay said.
“We looked at all that. We can’t chance it with the kids - there’s no way I was gonna allow that to happen.”
Poochay added Flin Flon/Creighton Minor Ball is hoping to put together some kind of one-off event if restrictions loosen later in the year.
