Wendy Burns is now a selfproclaimed baseball mom.
“Who knew it would be me?” Burns said with a laugh.
Three of her four children — Shelby, 9, Mitchell, 11, and Kendall, 12 — took up the sport for the first time this year.
“It was awesome,” said Wendy. “It was probably the best summer we had.”
And it is thanks, in part, to an effort to get the sport back into the Bedeque area.
To do that, its aging ball field needed a facelift.
“The field probably dates back to the ‘40s,” said community chairman Ron Rayner. “All through the ‘50s there was senior men’s ball here and, through the ‘60s, the kids did play and there was senior ball.”
As the years progressed, interest in the sport dwindled.
That changed when the Bedeque Area Minor Baseball Association was formed.
“It was 1993, shortly after the Blue Jays won the last pennant,” said past president Kevin McKenna. “At the time there was a national peewee A tournament in Summerside and we wanted our kids to have the opportunity to play.”
They started out with just a handful of players, then interest grew.
“At one point we had about 170 kids in the program,” recalled McKenna.
As 2010 approached, numbers started to drop off and the field, adjacent to the community’s busy rink, started Mitchell Burns throws a pitch across the plate to his older brother, Kendall, as their younger sister, Shelby, plays catcher. The three children played their first season of baseball this past summer in Bedeque. to show its age.
“The outfield was in terrible shape and the infield was in almost as bad of shape as the outfield,” said McKenna.
For three seasons, there was no roar of the crowd, no extrainning games, no pitches thrown from the Bedeque field’s mound.
Then an opportunity presented itself, in the form of government funding.
“We were lucky enough to access $38,000 through the Gas Tax,” said Rayner. “We decided to revamp our ball field.”
Heath Glover, who lives in the community, was hired to do the work.
But then came another obstacle — $18,000 of promised funding disappeared.
That was when Glover stepped up to the plate.
“His contract was for the outfield, the grass growing and what not, and the other contract was for the infield,” said Rayner. “He said whatever money we had, that is all he would want, that it is for the kids.”
The outfield was graded and reseeded, infield fixed and bleachers added. It was time to play ball. “The first ball game there was 44 cars. The next game, there were 49. Every game since has filled the parking lot,” said Rayner. “It is beautiful to see. It is what we wanted and we have succeeded. We’ve got our ball diamond back.”
Wendy Burns is now a selfproclaimed baseball mom.
“Who knew it would be me?” Burns said with a laugh.
Three of her four children — Shelby, 9, Mitchell, 11, and Kendall, 12 — took up the sport for the first time this year.
“It was awesome,” said Wendy. “It was probably the best summer we had.”
And it is thanks, in part, to an effort to get the sport back into the Bedeque area.
To do that, its aging ball field needed a facelift.
“The field probably dates back to the ‘40s,” said community chairman Ron Rayner. “All through the ‘50s there was senior men’s ball here and, through the ‘60s, the kids did play and there was senior ball.”
As the years progressed, interest in the sport dwindled.
That changed when the Bedeque Area Minor Baseball Association was formed.
“It was 1993, shortly after the Blue Jays won the last pennant,” said past president Kevin McKenna. “At the time there was a national peewee A tournament in Summerside and we wanted our kids to have the opportunity to play.”
They started out with just a handful of players, then interest grew.
“At one point we had about 170 kids in the program,” recalled McKenna.
As 2010 approached, numbers started to drop off and the field, adjacent to the community’s busy rink, started Mitchell Burns throws a pitch across the plate to his older brother, Kendall, as their younger sister, Shelby, plays catcher. The three children played their first season of baseball this past summer in Bedeque. to show its age.
“The outfield was in terrible shape and the infield was in almost as bad of shape as the outfield,” said McKenna.
For three seasons, there was no roar of the crowd, no extrainning games, no pitches thrown from the Bedeque field’s mound.
Then an opportunity presented itself, in the form of government funding.
“We were lucky enough to access $38,000 through the Gas Tax,” said Rayner. “We decided to revamp our ball field.”
Heath Glover, who lives in the community, was hired to do the work.
But then came another obstacle — $18,000 of promised funding disappeared.
That was when Glover stepped up to the plate.
“His contract was for the outfield, the grass growing and what not, and the other contract was for the infield,” said Rayner. “He said whatever money we had, that is all he would want, that it is for the kids.”
The outfield was graded and reseeded, infield fixed and bleachers added. It was time to play ball. “The first ball game there was 44 cars. The next game, there were 49. Every game since has filled the parking lot,” said Rayner. “It is beautiful to see. It is what we wanted and we have succeeded. We’ve got our ball diamond back.”
