Aluminum bats were ringing and softballs smacking into leather gloves as the Ridge Meadows Minor Softball Association got back in action at its improved training facility on Sunday.
The facility, which is accurately named “The Warehouse,” keeps the Ridge-Meadows players training year-round, and gives them an edge on the competition.
Association spokesperson Tom Bowen, a coach and member of the association executive, explained the River Road facility has been booked solid as an off-season training centre for the largest softball association in the province. When a neighbouring tenant in the warehouse facility left, the owner offered the extra space to minor softball.
“So we knocked down a wall and made a few more batting lanes,” said Bowen.
There is a diamond where younger players can field grounders and learn their infield plays on carpet, batting lanes with nets and pitching machines, space for pitchers to work on their craft, and an observation area above for their parents to take in the action.
It is well used. The space is booked solid right up until Dec. 23, then after a holiday break action resumes on Jan. 5 and continues every day through to March.
“We get a lot of use out of it,” said Bowen. “Softball has become a 10 or 11-month sport.”
• Softball registration has started for the coming season. The next in-person registration session will be Jan. 19 and 20. For information email kater727@hotmail.com or see the website rmmsa.com.