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After a decade-long hiatus, baseball has once again returned to the Yukon capital.

With eyes on the 2017 Canada Summer Games and 2019 Western Canada Summer Games, a dedicated group of volunteers has begun holding practices in Whitehorse to introduce young players to the game.

For the second week in a row, a group of approximately 15 youth athletes took to the diamond behind Porter Creek Secondary School to take a try at baseball. Over the course of an hour, players took turns batting, fielding and throwing bullpen sessions.

The game isn鈥檛 as easy as it looks, said 13-year-old Kyron Crosby, a member of this year鈥檚 U14 softball champion squad 鈥� Yukon College.

鈥淚鈥檝e watched a lot of baseball, but I鈥檝e never played before,鈥� he said, noting the obvious difference of the smaller ball.

鈥淔or batting, the ball鈥檚 pretty small. You really have to keep your eye on it.

鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty cool that we have a hardball team going on now,鈥� he added.

鈥淗ardball鈥檚 a pretty fun game. I like it better than softball, actually.鈥�

Meanwhile in the bullpen, 10-year-old lefty Huss Breithaupt fired several strikes into the glove of catcher Jeff Frizzell as pitching instructor Craig Claggett looked on.

鈥淚t鈥檚 fun to play,鈥� Breithaupt said. 鈥淚 love the game.鈥�

The Toronto Blue Jays fan said he鈥檚 grown up on softball, but would love to get the chance to pitch overhand for the Yukon sometime in the future.

鈥淚t鈥檚 great,鈥� said Mike L鈥橦enaff, who stood behind the chainlink fence, watching his son Garon take his turn in the batter鈥檚 box and field.

鈥淚t鈥檚 good to work with youth and any ball program is needed in any town. Hopefully it can grow.鈥�

The revival of baseball in the territory has been a long time coming, said Matt Kremer, a member of the program鈥檚 organizing committee.

And with two major sporting competitions on the horizon in the next four years, Kremer said the time was ripe.

鈥淲e know we鈥檝e got a lot of work to put in before we can even attempt to go to those (Canada Games and Westerns), but that鈥檚 our carrot out there,鈥� he told the Star last night. 鈥淔or this year, we鈥檙e just trying to have the kids get a taste of the basic fundamentals, because most of these kids have never thrown or hit a baseball.

鈥淒own south, all the kids play baseball. It seems unfortunate that the kids up here don鈥檛 get a chance to.鈥�

Kremer spent the night on the mound, throwing soft toss to batters, many of whom eventually connected on some solid liners to the outfield.

He said he鈥檚 been impressed with the talent of the young players thus far.

鈥淎ll of us coaches are pretty impressed so far,鈥濃�坰aid Kremer. 鈥淚鈥坓uess we had our expectations really low. But some of these kids are good athletes.鈥�

Anyone is welcome to attend the weekly practices, which take place from 7 to 8 Thursday nights at the baseball diamond behind Porter Creek Secondary School.

The specific age group being identified for the upcoming national competitions is youths age 12 to 16.

If all works out, Kremer said he鈥檇 like to have the program continue with pitching and fielding work through the winter at the Canada Games Centre.

鈥淗opefully it will grow and turn into a league or something here,鈥� Kremer said.

He said a baseball league could help fill a calendar gap in the late summer that occurs after the youth softball playoffs wrap up in June.

The last Star reports on baseball in the territory date back to 2006, when Baseball Yukon hosted a high school championships.

Regardless of future competitions, Kremer said having youth gathered on a local diamond to play ball is success enough.

鈥淛ust getting it started and seeing the kids enjoying it is success to me,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of kids that just love playing ball.鈥�