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West
Shore
Triangle
Peninsula
Lower Vancouver Island
Layritz
Lambrick Park
Gordon Head
Carnarvon-Allenby
Article from Saanich News, November 17, 2004
Baseball's Future Coming to Victoria
By Don Descoteau
Victoria News
Carnarvon Park to Host 2006 Pee Wee AAA Canadian Championships
The
year 2006 promises to be eventful in Oak Bay.
Not only will the municipality be celebrating its 100th anniversary, some of the
top 11- and 12-year-old baseball players in the country will be doing battle at
Carnarvon Park during the Canadian pee wee AAA championships.
"I think it's really going to provide tremendous profile and visibility for a
very exciting brand of baseball," said Tony Casey, Greater Victoria Minor
Baseball's pee wee and bantam AAA divisional director (photo, centre).
Victoria recently won the right to host the nationals after its application was
accepted by Baseball B.C. and B.C. Minor Baseball. B.C.'s turn in the rotation
had come up and Casey and company made a successful pitch for the event.
The tournament runs Aug. 24-27 and will be played mainly at Carnarvon, with some
games played under the lights at Lambrick Park in Saanich.
While it still is nearly two years away, the excitement is expected to begin
building soon among organizers and players alike.
"For us to have a host team... the kids around the city will just be jacked to
make that team and have an opportunity to play," said Randy Holt, who coached
the Victoria Wildcats to a third-place finish at the 2003 provincial pee wee AAA
championships here.
Mosquito division players from this past season, those born in either 1993 or
1994, will be eligible to play on the 2006 Victoria host team. Members of the
Victoria Rebels, who won the 2004 B.C. Mosquito A title, are among those
players.
"I hope to make the Wildcats in 2006 - they're going to be an awesome team,"
said Mitchell Seivewright, a Saanich player who played for the Rebels this year
(photo above, left).
Casey said the plan is to form a first-year pee wee team in 2005 that will form
the basis of the 2006 tournament team.
Pee wee baseball has been played in Greater Victoria since 2002, when a pair of
associations switched from Little League to come under the B.C. Baseball banner.
The regional AAA team, formed after the spring house league season, plays in a
provincial league during the summer.
Eleven- and 12-year-old players in B.C. Baseball play on a larger diamond than
their Little League counterparts, with 70-foot basepaths and a longer pitching
distance. As a way to prepare young players for the next age group, leadoffs are
allowed for base runners.
"I'm looking forward to pee wee because I will be able lead off," said
Seivewright teammate Nick Woodcock (photo above, right). "I'm fast and hope to
steal lots of bases. Should be fun."
Where some people might believe 9 and 10 year olds might be a little young to be
considering future opportunities in baseball, Holt pointed out kids that age are
well acquainted with hockey heroes such as Markus Naslund and Joe Sakic.
"Traditionally, Canada's been seen as a hockey development country, but hey,
we're experiencing a lot of development in baseball over the past few years," he
said.
Not so long ago Canada was barely even on the radar screen of college and
university scouts, let alone those working for Major League teams.
Locally, the success of players such as Oakland Athletics' pitcher Harden, MLB
draftees Mike Saunders and Bobby Scott and national junior teamer Kyle Orr have
put the city on the map when it comes to potential prospects.
There's no reason people like Harden, Saunders and Orr can't also be strong role
models for local youngsters, Holt said.
For sponsorship or volunteering information for the national tournament
committee, call Casey at 592-5611 or go to
www.victoriabaseball.com.
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Wee 2006 Nationals
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