Sports

North Dufferin Baseball League moving into 92nd season

April 20, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

It is one of the country’s oldest continuously running sports leagues, and the North Dufferin Baseball League is getting ready for the 2023 season.

The League was formed in 1931 at a time when playing a game meant piling the team into whichever vehicle they had and making the trek to an opposing town.

Since the start of the League, they have not awarded the Senior Division Strother Cup a handful of times. Play was suspended during the war years from 1940 to 1944 and again in 2020 due to the pandemic.

The first Strother Cup was awarded in 1931 to the champion team from Honeywood.

Since then, Creemore has fielded most of the championship teams, winning the cup 16 times. New Lowell has claimed the cup on 11 occasions.

A team from Orangeville won one time – in 1990.

Over the 92 years of play, some towns, like Mansfield and Creemore, have continuously fielded teams in the League. Other towns have entered for a few years and bowed out for various reasons.

This season there will be 12 teams in the Senior Division.

Those teams include the Barrie Angels, Bolton Brewers, Clarksburg Blues, Clearview Orioles, Creemore Padres, Ivy Rangers, Lisle Astros, Mansfield Cubs, Midland Mariners, New Lowell Knights, Orillia Majors, and the Owen Sound Baysox.

The defending champions, the New Lowell Knights, are returning in hopes of repeating last year’s success.

The schedule has each team playing 22 regular season games in a bid to get a spot in the playoffs.

“We are excited to get the season going,” said Mansfield Senior coach Emerson Pendleton. “Our roster is similar to last year with strong support from our junior players and a couple of new teammates. Our goals are to have fun competing and make the playoffs. Mulmur Township has been very supportive and helpful maintaining Mansfield Park and we all hope to continue community building together.”

The League schedule gets underway on Saturday, May 6, with a game between the Mansfield Cubs and the Creemore Padres.

The Junior Division will be up and running. However, the season schedule has yet to be finalized.

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