I drove by Duncan McLellan Park yesterday and it looked very still.
No ball players on the diamond, no crowd in the bleachers, no smell of burgers, fries & poutine in the air, and no trailers propped against the 9th Avenue East fence.
Very quiet.
After the hubbub of the Canadian Men’s Fastball Championship Tournament, an 8 day marathon in late August and early September, the facility looked pretty barren.
And while the Selects organization and the city of Owen Sound proved, yet again, they could stage a huge fastball event, I wondered when and what the next major fastball function would be.
Over a ten year span, Owen Sound, and primarily the Selects, have hosted 5 Canadian Championship Tournaments; the 2001 Canadian Women’s, the 2008 & 2009 Canadian Junior Men’s & the Canadian Senior Men’s Championship in 2003 and again this year.
It’s highly unlikely the Women’s Championship will ever return as Owen Sound and area doesn’t have a team of that calibre.
The Senior Men’s could be a candidate, but to be a successful host, you truly need a contending entry, and the Selects have a lot of ground to gain.
So most likely to return, as I see it, would be the National Junior Championship.
The Selects Junior program has been consistently strong, plus there’s almost a reluctance elsewhere across the country to host this tourney.
Like Duncan McLellan Park itself, there’s not much action at the moment, but you know the organizational wheels are seldom idle in Owen Sound fastball
I’m Fred Wallace