麻豆社区

It's been an up and down season for the Whitehorse Men's Fastpitch League.

Fewer players than anticipated have been showing up to the twice-weekly commitment, resulting in game cancellations.

The games that have had enough players to commence have only been possible due to spare players volunteering their time.

Unless a strong objection is put forward by June 29th, the league will attempt to remedy the situation through contraction, reducing the league from four teams to three.

The Roadhouse Pirates, who have a current record of one win and five losses, would be the odd team out.

The Pirates' roster would be disseminated throughout the league, with their player's joining the Roadhouse Giants, Cinderwood Hitmen and Casa Loma Jays.

Josh Clark, treasurer with the league, hopes the situation doesn't reach that point.

"We're hoping the players respond,鈥� he said, after the league sent out an email on Sunday night highlighting the issues for the players.

"We don't want to see the league contract, we'd love to see the four teams remain.

"I just think it's been a busy summer as it always is in the Yukon. You've got about eight weekends to pack everything in.鈥�

The fastball league suffered a similar situation last year, when scheduling conflicts between the league and the road hockey association lessened the number of available players.

This year, the league decided to keep their games on Tuesday and Thursday night in hopes of of avoiding that conflict again.

As fate would have it, the road hockey league defected and many of the fastball players are also committed to playing in Division 鈥楢' of the local slo-pitch league.

"We have half a dozen to a dozen guys at any given time that are supposed to be playing two games on the same dates,鈥� said Clark.

"To date there may have only been one or two games played where each team has actually fielded nine players from their set roster,鈥� the league wrote in their mass email.

"There have been two (plus) cancelled games due to lack of players. This is not only disappointing but very frustrating for those players that take the time away from their evening activities to fulfill their commitment to the league and their team.鈥�

Early on, the season looked promising for the league.

More than a dozen new players attended the pre-season drop-in sessions at the Canada Games Center and large portion of players from the 2011 season were set to return.

As the season moved forward, "less than a handful鈥� remained with the league.

The league has also suffered an injury bug that's affected some of the key players and pitchers.

Clark is hopeful that the injury situation will become a non-issue as players continue to step up and try out different positions.

"Once you start depleting your pitchers it's not a good thing for the health of the league,鈥� he said.

"But we've had number of guys step up in the role of pitcher and they're coming along nicely so I think that should be a mute issue in the next week or so.鈥�

The league is also looking for new talent behind the plate and continuing their season long search for umpires.

"What we would love to see is if somebody coming forward that would be a dedicated ump two days a week for the double headers,鈥� Clark said.

"If somebody enjoys the game and has some umping experience they would be desperately invited to come out.鈥�

Umpires are compensated $40 per game and are encouraged to visit whitehorsemensfastball.com for more information.

Clark said the league is also looking for new players to join the ranks.

"It's a welcoming league,鈥� he said. "It's good ball but it's not elite, everyone is invited to come out.

"We're trying to rejuvenate the league. A number of years there was a pretty healthy league here and we're trying to get it back again.

"The last thing we want is to see it fold.鈥�