After two years of being put on hold due to the pandemic, the Martensville Slo-Pitch league was once again able to host the 24 team very popular Plastic Bat & Ball tournament from April 21 – 23 at the Martensville Curling Rink.
Every year there is a waiting list to get into this much anticipated fun tournament that is played with plastic bats and kid gloves, although this year due to Covid, there were no gloves used in the tournament.
This year celebrated 25 years of hosting the tournament in Martensville which was originally started by the ‘Go-Getters’, a group of friends who played slo-pitch in the league for many years.
“We came up with the idea in 1995 after being at a tournament in Warman, said Ev Ottenbreit, one of the original Go-Getters. When the Martensville Curling Rink got cages on their ceiling lights, Dave Bosch who was the Director of Recreation and Community Services for the then ‘Town’ of Martensville and a Go-Getter teammate, gave the go ahead that the rink was able to host, and has been going strong ever since then.
This original team organized and ran the Plastic Bat & Ball tournament for eight years raising money to Andrea Kaminskas Park, Martensville Fire Department, Student Leadership Council at the high school, and much more before the Martensville Slo-Pitch committee took over in 2003.
This fun tourney has continued to be a great fundraiser for the league.
According to Kim Eckes, President of the Slo-pitch Executive, funds raised over the years have gone to all the upgrades at the slo-pitch diamonds by Kinsmen Park such as the main building, bar building and everything inside (walk in cooler, ice machine etc.), covered dugouts, deck, and playground. “We even raised over $800 one year for breast cancer research on tips alone!”, said Eckes.
Thanks to everyone who came out to support this event.
