Five teams from the U9 York Simcoe Baseball League (YSBL) are looking to win league honours, while also vying for a spot at provincials in Orillia this weekend.
The post-season tournament began Friday morning at the Dean Heliotis Diamond in McKinnell Square Park.
"(Orillia has) the first-round bye," explained Ed Novosky, director of rep baseball for Orillia Legion Minor Baseball (OLMB). "They have a good chance of being among the top two who move onto provincials."
While the first goal is to have fun, Novosky says the teams competing this weekend are all business.
"All of the kids were excited coming out of the gates this morning," he said. "You can tell that they want to win."
This weekend’s tournament signals the end of the baseball season for many local teams. This season, OLMB has hosted three baseball tournaments for various age groups.
"Tournaments are a great way for other towns to come and see Orillia," Novosky said. "We get teams coming up from London, Guelph, and Ottawa. It's great for putting Orillia on the map with other centres."
Despite short periods of drizzle this morning, Novosky says this weekend's tournament should avoid any major weather delays.
"We play baseball in the rain as long as it doesn't become unsafe," he explained. "We were pleasantly surprised with how well the diamond held the water from this morning."
The championship game is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday. Novosky says he's excited to see who comes away with the YSBL crown.
"It's going to be a fun weekend," he said. "If you saw how some of these teams were at the start of the season to now, you would see that there has been some serious improvement in a lot of the kids. It's great."
