Baseball season is approaching quickly and President of Killarney Minor Ball, Pam Skeoch, says this year really shows the love of the sport within the region.
As the weather turns, Skeoch says she's feeling really good with where they are at heading into the 2025 season. "Well, we're excited to get going. We have some coaches that are already practicing, some indoors and some perhaps outdoors later this week. Things are drying up and that's great news for the kids."
Skeoch details what ages the programs cover and is very pleased with where the numbers are at. "We offer a rally cap program, which is U7 and under. Right now we have 31 kids registered for that, boys and girls. That's a really great number of young ball players that are coming up into our program. They practice twice a week, they'll practice, develop skills and sometime toward the end of the season, they may play a game or two. Going up in age for boys and girls, we have U9, U11, U13, U15 and then the girls have 17 and 19 combined, and when the high school season is done, the boys will have a U18 team, as well. We have about 60-70 kids in each of those programs, the boys and girls. We also meet with our leagues and join teams together with players that don't have enough to play in their own town. So, we have about 21 kids from other towns coming to join Killarney Minor Ball and we're so excited to have them be a part of our programs and keep them playing the game."
With those big numbers, Skeoch says the community support means the world. "We have lots of people that help out with the coaching and managing side of things, we have excellent board members that help us get the programs up and running. The community supports by registering their kids and bringing them to ball. Right now, we're currently looking to upgrade our infield. We want to upgrade seven diamonds to diamond sand, so we've been seeking fundraising opportunities for our board and committee. The foundation has been a huge support for us and we're hoping in August to get that project under way and it wouldn't be possible without the community."
All the hard work and dedication has really paid off says Skeoch, as the already impressive numbers could be even higher. "We have 160 kids registered and we still have kids trying to register. We had to close it because we had to meet with the league and finalize the teams, but we still have kids messaging daily wanting to join ball. That's a great problem to have."
There are challenges heading into the year and Skeoch was quick to answer when asked about an area of need. "Umpires," she says with a chuckle. "Umpires is always a concern. We were lucky enough to host the Baseball Manitoba Umpire Clinic in Killarney, which draws umps from the area. The Softball Manitoba Umpire Clinic was in Boissevain and I know there are still clinics available. Anyone interested can contact me and I'll help point you in the right direction. It's not just Killarney, the need is there for surrounding towns as well. The demand is high."
For information on umpiring, coaching, programs or anything else, Skeoch says it's easy to find. "We've very easy to get a hold of on Facebook or contact me directly."