Take Me Out To The Ball Game

Spruce City Men’s Fastball League enjoying season of success and growth

Jun 23, 2021 | 1:57 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The Spruce City Men’s Fastball League has entered the fourth week of its season now, a season in which the league has shown considerable growth from last.

“The season has actually been running really smoothly,” said Robbie Antoine, captain for the Decorum Painting Angels and Vice President of the league. We’ve been upgraded to seven teams this year. Saying that, there’s a lot more ball now and a lot better calibre.”

And those seven teams are a huge growth from when Antoine first got involved with the league, a league that was then struggling to even get four teams out to Spruce City Stadium.

“Quite a bit has changed as far as the quality of the ball now. Bringing in a couple extra teams is always good because you get to see a variety of hitters, as well as pitchers,” stated Antoine. “Growing the sport is the biggest thing for us here. We want to maybe one day get back to the 10 to 12 teams the league once was. But in due time, we’ll just keep slowly building and hopefully keep building blocks from there.”

Loosened restrictions have also helped in making this season even more of a success, now allowing for up to 50 spectators inside the gates of the stadium.

“The fans are a huge part of the game. We are restricted to the amount of fans but Spruce City Stadium does have not only four stands, but one in the outfield as well,” said Antoine.

The league has also cut down a few boards lining the outfield so fans are able to spectate from outside of the stadium, therefore not counting towards the capacity within the stadium gates.

“The experience is everything for the guys. As soon as you have a crowd and you hear people cheering for good plays, or strikeouts, or good hits, that changes everything, and the momentum for a team.”

As other leagues get back up and running, the sites and sounds that come with the ballpark make Spruce City Stadium the place to be on any given night of the week, and a sure cut sign of the gradual return back to normality.