Medicine Hat Minor Softball petitioning City to ease diamond crunch

Despite dozens of ball diamonds being scattered across Medicine Hat, local softball players are only able to use a select few facilities due to the nature of the sport.

Softball teams are unable to use the raised mounds and grass infields that the majority of city-run ballparks use for baseball teams, while the mats used for slo-pitch diamonds also present a number of challenges.

That’s forced MHMSA to primarily play on diamonds located at Medicine Hat schools, which have their own set of complications according to Campbell.

These include fields that are infested with weeds, have limited seating for families, and often experience theft and damage.

“I think one of our diamonds has a home run fence, we have diamonds that don’t have benches, we have just a couple of grass diamonds that don’t even have a skinned infield,” said Campbell. “So, it just decreases the quality of experience.”

These challenges are especially having an impact on MHMSA’s Thunder program, which has become one of the top elite softball programs in southern Alberta with seven squads from U12 to U19 divisions.

“Truthfully, we’re cutting quite a few players because we can’t develop more highly competitive teams,” said Campbell. “We wouldn’t have any place for them to practice.”

Thunder teams have had to relocate practices and games to Redcliff and Dunmore to try and find space, with few booking spots open at city-owned diamonds that would serve their purposes.

Conversations have re-started between Campbell and the City of Medicine Hat to see if there are any solutions moving forward.

“In the end we all have the same goal,” said general manager of parks & recreation James Will. “We want the sports groups to have amenities that they can call home, ultimately we want kids to be able to play.”

There was hope from MHMSA that they would have been included in a wave of recent project announcements by the City including upgrades to Athletic Park and a new pickleball facility in Medicine Hat.

However, Will said the provincial funding for the Municipal Stimulus Program was only available to projects which could be completed by the end of 2021, something he didn’t think would be possible in building a new softball facility.

“While we certainly looked at sports fields the challenge of having land availability, being able to pull the trigger on something and build it in 2021 presents a challenge for a number of things,” he said.

These conversations with the City aren’t new for Campbell nor the MHMSA executive, adding that she doesn’t want to see this issue kicked down the road again.

“While I feel like they’re listening and they’re hearing us, I feel like it’s quickly put to the side and other things take priority,” said Campbell.

A possible long-term solution could be the City’s proposed ‘Brier Run’ neighbourhood development near the Family Leisure Centre, which does show a ball diamond complex being built.

Despite the fields being listed as baseball and slo-pitch facilities, the City is looking into making the complex multi-use with removable mounds and adjustable outfield sizes.

“We know that presents an opportunity for us to look at a multi-use facility where we could accommodate more than one type of sport whether it be hardball, softball, slo-pitch,” said Will.

According to Will, there is no timetable yet regarding when a complex could be built in Brier Run.

Campbell and the City are expected to meet again later this week with MHMSA’s goal to eventually find a new home for local girls who are invested in their sport,

“Female youth should take just as much precedent as the other sports in our community,” said Campbell.

by Scott Roblin

Medicine Hat Minor Softball petitioning City to ease diamond crunch

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