Williams Lake Slo-Pitch League president Linda Barbondy is swinging for the fences as its 25th season in the lakecity is on deck to begin next month.
The league is coming off hosting its annual general meeting March 7 where a 15-person executive was selected, including Barbondy as president, Lee Stokes (vice-president), Marla Barrett (treasurer), Mandi Holling (secretary) and 11 directors.
With already more than 24 teams, including five new teams formed for this season, Barbondy said the league is hosting a team signup meeting April 2 beginning at 7 p.m. at the Williams Lake Library where a team representative must attend in order to register a team for the season.
“We’ll see how many teams we end up with, but right now we’re around 750 people [in the league],” Barbondy said. “I believe we are, if not one of, the largest adult organizations in Williams Lake.”
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Barbondy said if all goes as planned league play will begin the week of April 29. There will also be a date scheduled for field cleanup prior to the beginning of the season, and Barbondy noted players can stay tuned to the league’s Facebook page at “Williams Lake Slo-Pitch League” for details on when that will be.
For tournaments this season, Barbondy said the only date set in stone so far is the 24th Annual Rowdies Fundraiser Tournament for June 1-2 — the team Barbondy has been a part of for all 24 seasons.
“After our team meeting we’ll have a better idea of exactly how many teams we’re going to have and what’s going on so we can go from there,” she said.
Other tournaments slated for the season will be the annual Icebreaker Tournament, plus the Year End Tournament to wrap things up.
Also this season, expanding on an effort which saw two of the league’s fields at the Esler Sports Complex receive new backstops last year, Barbondy said backstops on fields two and three will be replaced for the season.
“We have enough money to do the other two so that’s great,” she said. “Then we’re going to start to begin work on the infields, hopefully soon with new bases for all the diamonds and new infield material.”
As for what the buzz around town has been regarding ball season since the snow began to melt, Barbondy said everyone’s excited.
READ MORE: Rowdies edge Rotten Eggs in year-end slo-pitch championship
“My phone’s been getting messages non stop the last two weeks about ball,” she said.
Another new initiative Barbondy and the executive began implementing last year is selling field sponsorship signs in order to help the league fundraise.
“We have four diamonds to sell, eight dugouts and we’re selling sponsorship signs for the clubhouse,” she said. “We’re really proud of how it’s turned out.”
If anyone is interested in playing, or starting up a team, they can contact Barbondy through the league’s Facebook page or by e-mailing her at crazyrowdy22@yahoo.com.
“Everybody’s excited about ball,” she said.
“People have already been out practicing in town. The rain has been helping get rid of the snow up at Esler, and I’m really excited about the ball season.”
sports@wltribune.com
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