The softball diamonds at Prime Minister’s Park will be buzzing with activity this weekend with 21 teams from four age divisions competing in the 2024 Rawlings Grand Slam Boys Softball Tournament.
U15 Astros head coach Neil Finch says the weekend will be a good opportunity for the city of Prince Albert to welcome teams from across the province.
“I think it’s just yet another way for Prince Albert to showcase the ball diamonds that we have down at Prime Minister’s Park. They are world-class ball diamonds. We’re hosting the world trials this year and then the world men’s tournament next year and to be able to bring people in our province (and) to our city to play ball is always an exciting host opportunity.”
The weekend will be the start of a lengthy schedule for softball in the city of Prince Albert this summer. Prince Albert will host the Shaye Amundson Memorial Tournament starting May 31, the WBSC Men’s Softball group stage from July 10-14 and several other provincial championship tournaments.
Finch says the idea to host four age divisions in a weekend was derived from the strong support the Shaye Amundson Memorial Tournament receives every year.
“This weekend though is quite special. We are hosting all these age groups together to try to create an atmosphere that’s similar to the Shaye Amundson Memorial with a different purpose and so we’ve got all these girls teams that come come here in in honor of Shaye which is a fantastic weekend but we also want to showcase our boys teams that exist.”
The first games of the tournament were on Friday evening at 7 p.m. Results were not available as of press time. Games will run all day Saturday with the championships for each age division running on Sunday afternoon.
The U17 Astros face Saskatoon in their opening Saturday game at 9:15 a.m. The U15 squad face the Delisle Diamond Dogs in their Saturday opener at 11 a.m.
The Gold Medal finals are set for 4:45 p.m. on Sunday for the U11 Boys, 4:30 p.m. on Sunday for the U13 Boys, 3 p.m. on Sunday for the U15 Boys, and 3:15 p.m. on Sunday for the U17 Boys.
sports@paherald.sk.ca