After going two rounds of competition in the championships, the B team Pickpockets, above, claimed the BCA Pool Tournament Championship on Sunday, April 17 after edging out the Recovering River Rats, bottom. Pictured on left is BCA owner Ralph Veenhuis with Pickpockets Jordan Bulechowsky, Rich Bulechowsky, Chris Bulechowsky, Adam Bowman, and Mike Erickson. Below, Veenhuis is pictured with Recovering River Rats Wes Chung, Buck, Jamie Boyko, Kelly Boyko, Dog, and Al Pinkham. Top prizes included trips to Vegas and houseboating packages, among a number of other runner up and draw prizes for both participants and volunteers.

mailphoto by Kyle Smylie

Baseball’s popularity has been on the rise in this country in recent years, no doubt due in some part to the Blue Jay’s playoff run last year, and the Drumheller Minor Baseball league has been growing along with it. 

Registration closed last week and over 120 players have signed up to hit the diamonds come the first week of May. 

“Overall it’s a relatively inexpensive sport and lets the kids get outside and be active in the summer” said league president Lyle Cawiezel. 

“The last registration night was more than expected, with a lot of new T-ball and aged 4-6 players which is good in allowing us to build as they grow up.”

But as the league grows available diamond space gets tighter. Cawiezel said diamonds are booked solid almost every night of the week, as the league also shares field time with Drumheller Girls Softball Association and the Drumheller Mixed Slow-pitch League.

“It would be good to look at the possibility of where a couple more diamonds could go,” said Cawiezel. 

“There are some that are not maintained, such as the old St. Anthony’s grounds. They wouldn’t have to be full sized and could be smaller diamonds and used by the younger players.”

Check for The Mail’s coverage of minor baseball during the season from May until the end of June.