By Ethan Ready

Jays Care Foundation

Inaugural Girls at Bat Tournament proves to be a hit out of the park

Jun 14, 2022 | 5:26 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Spruceland Traditional Elementary School was the host school for the inaugural Girls At Bat Tournament held on Tuesday.

A handful of schools have been working in partnership with the Jays Care Foundation offered by the Toronto Blue Jays to support inclusion in baseball, which includes creating an environment tailored specifically for girls to thrive in creating connections and self-confidence through the sport of baseball.

“The program was developed by the Jays Care Foundation and they have been extremely generous in supplying us with programming, equipment and even T-shirts and hats,” said Noelle Young, a coach of the Beaverly team and one of the main organizers for the program. “I originally heard about it and attended a workshop in the winter of 2019 and had planned on starting in Spring of 2020 but we all know what happened then. The Jays Care Foundation kept in touch all through the pandemic and held a refresher course online at the beginning of this year, hoping that we could begin in the spring which is exactly what we did and it has been amazing.”

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“Baseball is one of those special sports where participation seems to be especially meaningful and go beyond just the athletic benefits,” said Jacqui Adams, a community schools coordinator who is one of the coaches of the host Spruceland team. “Girls are showing that they love baseball, they can benefit in so many ways from baseball, and it’s just so exciting to see so many girls taking part in this tournament.”

The hope is to have this as an annual event with more and more schools getting involved.