Sports

SnowPitch tournament in Orangeville delivers mid-winter baseball game in the snow

February 5, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

It was cold and snowy, and most of the time the bases were buried somewhere underneath the snow, but that made it all that much more fun at the annual SnowPitch tournament held at diamonds around Orangeville on Saturday, Jan. 31, and Sunday, Feb. 1.

The tournament was held in support of the Orangeville Food Bank.

A total of 30 teams played in the winter weather round-robin style schedule before heading into the playoffs on Sunday.

What the players lacked in speed while trying to run the bases in six inches of snow, they made up for with enthusiasm during the games.

Organizers Don Menard and John Castellano have been running the tournament for several years.

“This is our annual Orangeville SnowPitch Tournament, and we have 30 teams out there today,” John explained. “We started running the tournament four years ago, but prior to COVID, this tournament has been around for around 20 years. The tournament has typical rules, but we just want people to have fun with it. The ball may get lost and you’ll have to look for it. We have at least 300 people playing in the tournament. It’s not super competitive, they are just out there having fun. We have cash prizes and sweaters as prizes.”

There are a lot of games played in the tournament, so things have to keep moving. Games are seven innings or 45 minutes, whichever comes first.

“We guarantee each team four games,” John said. “It’s a two-day tournament. They’ll get three round robin games and at least one playoff game.”

The tournament headquarters was the newly opened Broadway Beat restaurant in Orangeville, which was also one of the event’s sponsors.

Ball players enjoyed lunch at the restaurant, then stayed for the apré ball party, which featured live music and went well into the night.

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