Even though a return to game play is still up in the air, the Sask Five Baseball Association is moving forward with their respective season, as the organization recently conducted its evaluation clinics, for the U11 U13 and U15 divisions, in Martensville.
The U11 evaluations took place at Chrome Dome Park on May 1 while, the following day, the U13 and U15 groups had their evaluations at Mocon Baseball Diamonds.
The evaluation process was done differently compared to pervious years since Sask Five had to follow the current provincial COVID-19 guidelines and restrictions.
In each division, youth were split in to groups no bigger than eight, and each player was evaluated one at a time through a quick skills rotation.
For each rotation they had to field three ground balls, catch three pop flys, run the bases, throw three pitches and for the hitting portion, they were given five strikes to swing at. Each rotation was no longer than five minutes long.
Typically, players would spend more time on each skill set during the evaluation process, but, this was the best way Sask Five could evaluate the amount of players they have, in the most efficient way, while following the proper protocols.
Even though each rotation didn’t take that long, it still was enough to show the respective coaches the skills that each player has and which category would suit them the most within their respective age division.
In the past, Sask Five has had evaluations indoors, which took place earlier in the spring, but since evaluations happened a little later than usual, it could be conducted outdoors on the ball diamonds.
Having evaluations outdoors also gave the players more room to perform specific skills.
The evaluation process was also the first time this spring that youth were on the diamonds so it was a great opportunity for them to get back in to baseball action.
Overall, the youth were just excited to be on the diamond, executing certain drills and hopefully they will have the opportunity to play games against other teams later in the spring or summer.
Once the teams are established, then the players can start practising, but they still have to train in groups of eight because of the current health measures.
The U18 and U15 AAA teams have already been out practising on the ball diamonds in Martensville since the end of April and will continue do so until league play can happen.
Even though the rest of the season still has a lot of questions, regarding how it will look like, the youth will still have the opportunity to get some ball activity in despite it just being limited to training right now.
