This year’s baseball season gave the St. Paul area lots of opportunity to watch great baseball and softball being played by athletes of all ages. With the ball season wrapping up, the St. Paul Minor Ball Association hosted a party for all teams on Canada Day.
To start off the day, the organization hosted the official grand opening for the new batting cages, located by the diamonds behind the hockey arenas. The new ball cage features two lanes and two pitching machines to help the players sharpen up their reaction times shorten their swings to improve their batting averages.
Canadian Natural Resources representative Richard Smyl was on hand for the opening. CNR is the major sponsor for the new cages, donating the pipe used to build the cages,
“It was my dream to build a facility that the kids could practice in rain or shine,” according to Rick Austin, president of St. Paul Minor Ball.
Also, during the wind-up at Jaycee Ballpark, two-exhibition ball games were played. The rookie boys and mite girls played head to head in a fun filled, high-scoring game, that eventually saw the boys pull ahead and take the win.
Later in the day, the midget boys provincial team had a special game against the St. Paul Cub’s Men’s team.
Although the game was mostly done for fun, the competitive nature of both the boys and the men came out as bragging rights were on the line. Last year, the feature game included the midget St. Paul Storm facing the Alberta women’s team, a game that the midget’s managed to win.
“It was a hard fought battle, but in the end, the older and wiser Cubs came out on top with the storm showing areas of brilliance,” says Austin, adding, “It was a great day at the park with the music playing, the stands full of fans, and a great ball game on the field.”
