If you live in North Vancouver, it’s time to root, root, root for the home team this year at the Little League BC Provincial Championships.
The majors tournament will run July 14 to 23 on the lush grounds at Myrtle Park in Deep Cove. The last time it was hosted in North Vancouver was 2016.
For nine days, players age 11 and 12 on teams from the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley and the Kootenays will gather on the massive grass field and baseball diamonds at the park.
The winner of the tourney will move on to the Canadian National Championship, and the best team from that event will travel to Williamsport, Pennsylvania for the Little League World Series in August.
A total of seven teams will play in the B.C. tournament. Mount Seymour gets a guaranteed spot because they’re hosting, and one other North Shore team will play as well – either West Vancouver, Highlands or Lynn Valley.
It’s an honour and a privilege to host the provincials, says Mount Seymour Little League president Liz Darling, standing on the field at Myrtle Park as two teams play the regular season finals on the diamond behind her.
“It’s just a really great hub here,” she said, pointing to another area of the park where younger players were being mentored by older ones.
There’s a strong spirit of support in the North Shore baseball community, Darling said.
“Today, we’ve got 24 players from two majors teams that didn’t make it, but are here supporting their friends on the field,” she said. “We’ve got coaches that have been in the league for a long time going down to the younger divisions and helping guide those coaches and players.”
For her and the many other parent volunteers in the league, supporting kids' baseball is a labour of love.
Before she became league president this year, Darling used to coach her son’s T-ball team. And years before that, she played competitive softball as a youth herself. She started playing on the North Shore, and went on to play on the women’s provincial team for Baseball BC at age 14. When she was 18, she decided not to take a university scholarship and keep playing for fun instead.
“My whole thing with sports is: I think it’s about the kids,” she said. “The real reason I took this on is I want it to be about the kids and not about adults’ and parents’ opinions, but what is best for the kids.”
