The PA U18 Royals will return to the diamond for a pandemic-shortened season this year. Above, last year's Royals team poses with Lloydminster native Braden Holtby at provincial championships in the border city. (submitted photo/PA Minor Baseball)

By Trevor Redden

Royal Return

U18 Royals to join Sask Premier AA League for shortened season

Jun 22, 2020 | 12:00 PM

It looks like Prince Albert’s under-18 baseball players will have an opportunity to play at the highest level this year after all.

Once the provincial government moves to part two of Phase 4, the U18 PA Royals will once again be competing in the Sask Premier AA Baseball League after debuting in the circuit last year.

“We met with the league yesterday and of course everything is guided by Baseball Sask and Saskatchewan health so we’ll take our guidance from there,” Head Coach Geoff Gay said. “Baseball Sask has developed some return to play guidelines for basically two phases, one is the practice phase and one is the game phase.”

With part one of phase four launching this morning, teams are now allowed to begin practicing amongst themselves. The U18 Royals are planning to open tryouts on Thursday and are encouraging any interested players to get in touch.

Once competition begins, it will still be the same old sport but there will be some differences.

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Gay said some of the changes will include social distancing in the dugout, a ban on sunflower seeds and spitting, cleaning requirements within the game, and the umpire will have the choice of standing either behind home plate as usual or behind the pitcher’s mound instead.

The league would typically wrap up by late July, but this year it will be running until Aug. 23. Still, it doesn’t look like that will allow time for a true playoff.

“There are no provincials this year with Baseball Sask, but the league will run its regular season and if time permits there will be a small playoff at the end,” Gay said.

The Sask Premier AA Baseball League consists of 16 teams that will have a six-team north division and a 10-team south division. The Royals are expecting to play a 16-game season including 12 games against the north and four against the south.

While the team intends to be competitive and strives for a successful season, the coach emphasized this year is primarily about providing some normalcy to the players.

“It would have been real easy to just say we missed the season and move on. This is such a different year that I feel we’re all obligated to get out and create some sort of routine for the players,” Gay said. “I think we’re going to have a good group of players out and we’ll have some fun and see how things go. All of the travel will be same day, no hotels, so it will just be a good summer for the players.”

Interested players are asked to contact PA Minor Baseball.

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trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden