The inaugural Alberta Girls Baseball League will begin late May, weather and fires permitting.
It allows both U9 and U12 girls teams to play against each other.
The three associations participating in the startup are located in Beaumont, Edson and Rocky Mountain House.
Barb Northcott is the director of girls and women’s baseball at Baseball Alberta.
In 2020, Northcott met with members of the Baseball Canada girls committee. She wanted to know what other provinces were doing to promote girls baseball.
Nova Scotia had started a girls league and had success, which inspired her.
Northcott is confident this league will succeed, based on previous conversations with parents.
“They’re just ‘let us in, let us in.’ They really see an opportunity there for their girls to play against other girls,” Northcott explains.
She says interest is expanding quickly, as other communities reach out about getting their girls playing ball.
She adds, “a lot of interest with the three communities that are involved. I have other communities that are reaching out to me like, ‘how can we be in the league.’”
There are only three associations involved in the startup this season, so the girls will continue to play boys teams as well.
But Northcott says the size of the league is perfect for now, while they test the format.
“We started a pilot to keep it small and manageable, so next year I really am confident that we’re going to have communities across the province that are going to be in the league,” she mentions.
Northcott’s daughter began baseball at the age of six, and noticed many of her teammates dropping out as they aged up.
“There will be that sense of belonging, so girls, when they feel they belong, then they will perform,” she says.
The first game of the Alberta Girls Baseball League is scheduled for May 27 in Rocky Mountain House.
“I sort of expect it to be a tournament atmosphere, so that they have a concession, and of course they have all their parents, grandparents and friends come to watch the inaugural kickoff,” Northcott says.
Baseball Alberta plans to make it a special occasion for the young athletes.
“I just think that it will be quite special baseball alberta will do posts about it, so we’ll try to get them as much attention as possible, just to increase our exposure”
As the players of the first inaugural Alberta Girls Baseball League get older, Northcott hopes to create older divisions, all the way up to women’s.
For now, she is just excited to be creating an opportunity to expand and diversify.
