The diamonds will be buzzing with activity at Prime Ministers’ Park in Prince Albert as the fourth annual Shaye Amundson Memorial Tournament begins on Friday afternoon.
The tournament will feature 32 teams across four age divisions (11U, 13U 15U and 17U) with teams traveling from across Saskatchewan and Alberta to compete. There will be five local teams in the field.
Tournament coordinator Curtis Bradbury says the spots available were in high demand.
“We filled up very fast, the registration opened online in February and I think just for the fact that we’re hosting Men’s World Championship qualifiers this year and World’s next year, our city is on the map of softball.”
The tournament is named in memory of Shaye Amundson, a former Prince Albert Aces player who passed away in June 2016 after a single vehicle accident.
One diamond at the Max Power Ball Diamonds at Prime Ministers Park has been dedicated to Shaye Amundson thanks to fundraising efforts after her passing.
“Pre-COVID, there was a lot of fundraising done to name Diamond 4 in her memory” Bradbury says. “Since then, we’ve provided scholarships the last four years to females who have played in the Shaye Amundson Memorial and have gone onto college or university classes.”
In addition to the tournament and the scholarships awarded in Shaye’s memory, Prince Albert Minor Softball will be retiring the number two across all Aces teams in honour of Amundson in a special ceremony on Friday night.
“There’s going to be an opening pitch at about 8:15 PM on Rotary diamond on Friday evening.” Bradbury says. “We will be retiring Shaye’s number two. We are doing something up for the family in her honour, just like we did last year by putting up a new sign on the Shaye Amundson Memorial. No other player will wear number two moving forward. We retired all number two Aces jerseys. The girls that were wearing number two have gotten new numbers. It’s just another way to keep Shaye’s memory alive in the Prince Albert softball.”
The first games of the 2024 Shaye Amundson Memorial Tournament begin at 10 a.m. on Friday morning.
sports@paherald.sk.ca