Little Leaguers gather in Chateauguay

Little League baseball teams from all over the province came together last weekend to commence the Little League Minor Provincial Tournament and Novice Festival. With spectacular weather on baseball fields at Bonneau and Léger Park, Chateauguay was given the honour of hosting the event, which will finish this weekend.

While the first games on Friday evening may have been dampened a little towards the end by a massive thunderstorm, Saturday, August 4, had everything necessary. Bonneau Park played host in the morning to teams from Valleyfield and St. Constant on Field 1, NDG and Coteau du Lac on Field 4 and finally, Chateauguay's Red Sox against the team from Brossard. The players' ages were in the 9-10 year old range.

Chateauguay's Red Sox consisted of 10 players. There were a number of parents in attendance, who were more than happy at seeing their children play. One mother from Brossard, Diane Czick, had an 11-year-old son named Christopher who was playing centre field. "I'm happy for him," she said, adding that she had an older son who played the same sport, which is what influenced his brother to play as well.

Parents from Chateauguay were no less enthusiastic about their children's participation in the games. Steve Montour, whose 9-year-old son Shayne Montour was on the field, was happy to see his son playing a game that has "good organization" and which is "good fun" at the same time. Ellen McHarg, another parent, thought it was "amazing that Chateauguay has so much to offer."

The game began at around 9 a.m. with the Red Sox up at bat first. The game lasted for around two hours with a few grand slams here and some impressive catches there on both sides. The kids who were playing were ones who showed true enjoyment for the sport as a whole. Ten-year-old Sarah Manfred, from the Red Sox, who was the catcher for the day and has been playing baseball since she was four, says she enjoys playing on a team. Another player, 9-year-old Aaron Smith, who played centre field for the Red Sox, says baseball is a bit different from T-ball, the sport he started with, but that he likes it nonetheless. The game ended 16-10 for Brossard.

Despite losing, everyone should remember that the goal of this is to have fun. Saturday also saw the appearance of the Chateauguay Big League Team from the 1982 World Series, which was celebrating its 25th anniversary. Alan Massel, who was a part of that team, showed up early to help set up tents. Their presence was undoubtedly one that brought much excitement to the players. The tournament for the Novice Festival, which had players from 4-6 years old, took place later that afternoon. The tournament will continue this weekend. Altogether, there are teams in the tournament from 14 towns and cities in Quebec.

• Retour
• Imprimer
• Envoyer à un ami