The fastball will be world-class again this season.
Some international exhibitions highlight the coming men’s fastpitch softball season in Nanaimo.
Opening day for the Nanaimo Senior Men’s Fastball League is Thursday (May 4), followed quickly by an eight-team icebreaker tournament on May 6-7.
“It’s going to be an interesting weekend … we’ll get rid of all that rust,” said Todd Belton, league president. “We’re probably a couple weeks behind the eight-ball being outside because most of the fields have been closed.”
The league is down to just three teams for 2017, but organizers have gotten creative, adding weekend exhibitions against Victoria and Sooke teams to the schedule of midweek games.
A highlight of fastball season will come June 23-24, when the New Zealand men’s national team stops by Cedar’s Wheatsheaf field complex during a tour of the region. The New Zealanders will face a Nanaimo all-star team the first night, then play a doubleheader against the Sooke Loggers, a senior A squad, the next day in Nanaimo.
“The top players in the world, you get to play against,” Belton said. “A lot of the local guys who don’t play senior A ball are going to get to see the elite players playing.”
An Australian touring team, the Aussie Sparks, played in Nanaimo in 2014.
GAME ON … Thursday’s league opener sees the Wheatsheaf team take on Baker Supply at 6:30 p.m. at the Wheatsheaf fields. The tournament games start at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday and 8:30 a.m. on Sunday with the final that night at 4:30 p.m.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com