As is this case with any new venture, those in charge of the Highway 3 Baseball League weren’t quite sure what to expect when they began their inaugural campaign in June.
When the circuit looked back on the 2021 season during their league meeting on Aug. 22, they were ecstatic with how everything transpired.
“The feedback that we got from everyone was that it went better than they could have hoped,” league board member Adam Morrison of Birch Hills said.
“When we first started talking about this league we had an idea that we would probably get a decent turnout for games, but the crowds that we got from the communities were awesome and the skill level of the baseball that was on display was great to see.”
The five-team circuit, which featured the Birch Hills Brewers, Humboldt Dodgers, Pasquia Angels (who had players from Arborfield and Carrot River), Prince Albert Royals and Tisdale Rangers, opened up their season on June 15 and were able to slowly allow fans to their diamonds as the COVID-19 restrictions were lessened around the province.
“I think the crowd support was probably the biggest surprise, as I know our smaller communities had 100-plus fans at every game,” Morrison said.
“The overall community support was amazing to see. There was a lot of buzz on social media and around town from different age groups. You had people in high school who were coming out to the games and people who played for these teams back in the 1970’s to show their support.”
The Brewers would come away with the league championship on Aug. 12 as they completed a clean sweep of the Rangers.
“In all honesty, you could have made a case for all five teams to win the league this year,” said Morrison, who is a player for the Brewers. “In our case, it just seemed like everything clicked at the right time for us in the playoffs as we had timely hits and limited our errors.
“The overall skill level in our league was very strong and it was great to see just how polished everyone was after a long layoff.”
While a start date has yet to be finalized for the 2022 campaign, the league is accepting applications for new teams.
The application, which can be found on the league’s Facebook page, must be submitted by Nov. 30.
“Obviously we want the league to expand, but we want to make sure that the communities we are going into are stable,” Morrison said. “We don’t want to be in a situation where we have teams forfeiting games due to a lack of numbers.”
The league is also looking at finishing up their season at an earlier date as they want to wrap things up before the August long weekend and the senior provincial championships.
