The snow has melted, and the browns and greys are slowly giving way to green around the countryside. That can mean only one thing: baseball season is coming.
Registration for Cochrane Minor Ball recently closed, and the organization, which offers boys and girls ages four to 18 the chance to play baseball, softball, and T-ball, has seen an increased demand unlike any in its proud history.
“We’re up 30 per cent from last year in terms of registered players,” said Kayley MacLennan, administrator and operations co-ordinator for the association. “It’s great but also sad, because we’ve had to turn some kids away and others are on a waitlist.
“Currently, we have around 400 kids signed up to play, which is up roughly 100 from last season.”
While Cochrane has been growing exponentially in the past decade, MacLennan believes growth of the community is only one part of the increased interest.
“We feel the Toronto Blue Jays’ run in the playoffs last year has something to do with it as well as population growth,” she said. “The overall increase has been insane.”
Despite the spike in minor ball players, there are fewer diamonds, which has given the association something of a dilemma in accommodating all of the players.
“The lack of diamonds is a big problem,” MacLennan said. “Midford school put a portable on their diamond this year, so there’s that one gone, which we used for our coach pitch and T-ball divisions.”
A diamond was built in the new Sunset development but it’s not the answer to Cochrane Minor’s prayers.
“The town of Cochrane hasn’t taken it over yet,” MacLennan said. “We can’t use it because of insurance purposes. The developer still owns it, and due to some irrigation issues, the town wants everything fixed before they take over so the taxpayers don’t foot the bill, which we completely understand.
“We’ve secured a diamond at Redwood Meadows,” MacLennan said. “We’ve gone everywhere else, Water Valley, Cremona, you name it, but Redwood is the only one who could accommodate us.
“(The Redwood) diamond is only going to be used for our minor and major division teams (ages nine to 12), so our coach pitch group will still suffer.”
Even with this mix of good and bad news, things are looking good for Cochrane Minor Ball, especially due to a new fundraiser it is putting on this year with the Cochrane Movie House.
“That’s something we’re looking forward to,” McLennan said. “We’re trying to raise as much as we can right now. We’ve had a couple other donations so far, so that’s great.
“Anything helps.”
The fundraiser is set to take place on June 4 at 10 a.m. at the theatre where Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows will be screened.
Tickets are $10 and are expected to go on sale in May.
For more information, visit cochraneminorball.ca or Cochrane Minor Ball on Facebook.
