It’s an atmosphere Aaden Campbell is excited to experience.
The 11-year-old catches, pitches and plays third base for the Summerside mosquito AAA team, which be part of the Summerside Area Baseball Association’s (SABA) annual Opening Day at Queen Elizabeth Park (QEP) on Sunday.
“It’s under the lights and there is a lot of music playing,” said Aaden in looking ahead to his team’s game against Charlottetown on the Gordie Arsenault Field at 7 p.m.
The concept of Opening Day was first suggested by SABA board member Gary Barlow.
“It was an idea to get all the teams in the community out to the same spot and officially start the season for baseball,” said SABA president and general manager Tanner Doiron, who noted there will be a bouncy castle set up from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., a free barbecue from noon to 3 p.m., and an all-day fun zone featuring games, face painting, contests and prizes. “It’s a great way for the community, baseball lovers to come out and enjoy a day at the park.”
Games will feature players as young as four-years-old in blastball right up to midget AA. Every Summerside team will have a game except for the peewee AAA team due to a number of the team’s players away for a provincial tournament.
“It should be fun,” said 16-year-old Kalib Snow, a catcher with the Chevys’ midget AA team that will face the Cardigan Clippers on Legends Field at 7 p.m. “All the teams are playing and everyone comes to the field and gets a day worth of ball at different levels and calibre.”
First of many busy days
“It was an idea to get all the teams in the community out to the same spot and officially start the season for baseball. It’s a great way for the community, baseball fans and baseball lovers to come out and enjoy a day at the park.”
- Tanner Doiron, SABA president and general manager
Sunday will be just the first of many busy days at QEP this summer. SABA will host 10 tournaments this summer featuring mosquito AA through to midget AA.
“We have teams on the waiting list right now, so they are filling up quickly,” said Doiron, who added SABA is also bidding to host the Atlantic mosquito AA and midget AA championships in September. “We will see anywhere from 12-to-16-team tournaments in Summerside all summer.
“It will start June 14 and it will run right until the end of August.”
Tryout committee
This season marked the first time SABA used a three-member tryout committee consisting of Chuck Grady, Matt Barlow and Nick Hann during the selections of AAA and AA teams.
“I had a lot of good feedback from parents and coaches and coaches especially,” said Doiron, who noted there are over 300 athletes registered with SABA for 2019. “They really appreciated having that second set of eyes in the stands and they really enjoyed having them there. . .
“It allowed us to be a little more transparent and how we do the tryout process. The board will review that for next season and hopefully it will be implemented for years to come.”
RELATED:
2019 SABA Opening Day: Sunday, June 9th
Gordie Arsenault Field
9:30 a.m.: Jr. Mosquito 1 vs Jr. Mosquito 2
10:30 a.m.: Jr. Mosquito 3 vs Jr. Mosquito 4
12:00 p.m.: Mosquito A 1 vs Mosquito A 2
2:30 p.m.: Mosquito A 2 vs Mosquito A 3
4:30 p.m.: Mosquito AA vs Cornwall
7:00 p.m.: Mosquito AAA vs Charlottetown
VIV Field
10:00 a.m.: Peewee A 1 vs Peewee A 2
12:30 p.m.: Peewee AA vs Western
3:30 p.m.: Bantam AA vs Charlottetown
6:00 p.m.: Bantam AAA vs Eastern
Legends Field
4:00 p.m.: Midget A #1 vs Midget A #2
7:00 p.m.: Midget AA vs Cardigan
