Slo-pitch wraps up for another season

The Whitecourt Slo-Pitch Association held its annual year-end tournament on Saturday, July 6 and Sunday, July 7 at Graham Acres. The teams were given the option of having a playoff weekend or a tournament and chose the latter. Over the course of the weekend, each team played multiple times and the top two teams from each day were presented with prizes.

“Saturday is our round robin day where we will place the teams based on scores and then on Sunday every team will play at least once depending on how well they do,” explained Hit & Run player Chelsea Sproule. “The top two teams from each day win something. The first-place team chooses between either sweaters or next year’s entry fee and the second-place team receives what’s left. So, that’s two winning teams each day.”

As the sponsorship co-ordinator and stats keeper for the association, Sproule said though sponsorship remains strong, the number of players was lower than previous years. “We are down for teams by quite a bit, actually. We aren’t too sure why but last year we had either 27 or 29 teams and this year we are at 22 so we are down about seven teams.”

Each team plays two out of four nights a week through the spring. “The season went pretty well. It was a lot rainier than we would’ve liked. We were rained out for an entire week. But the games were good, and the people are awesome. A lot of players are actually playing four nights a week because they are on two teams,” she said.

Quite a few of the teams have been around for years and continue to return each season sometimes with a new name to change things up. “Everyone looks forward to getting together to play. It’s a really great core group and we are always encouraging new players and new teams to join.”

One of the teams that returned for this year was made up of graduates from last year. “The Pilsner Pirates came back to play this year and it was really nice to see them again. It’s nice to have the kids coming out to play with us.” Next year, Sproule said the association is looking to try some new things to help in making things better and, hopefully, get more people out.

“We want to thank the players and sponsors for showing up and doing such a great job. We would also like to give a shout out to our board for everything they do to make things as smooth as possible. We try really hard to make things fun and fair down here.” All it takes is a group of 10 people, six men and four females, to put together a team. “Thank you to Collin Toilet Rentals & Service, Bear Creek Rentals, Tangle Creek Energy Ltd., Phoenix Industrial, Pembina West Co-Op, Carlan Services Ltd., Road House Pub & Grill, and A-Tech NDT Limited. Without your support our season would not have been the same. Thank you!