Junior Cubs will start in Mansfield this season

April 16, 2016 · 0 Comments

Mansfield will have new Junior team on the diamond this season.

The Mansfield Junior Cubs have been approved by the North Dufferin Baseball League to start in the 2016 season.

Mansfield already has a Senior team in the NDBL, also named the Cubs, but has never entered a Junior squad.

“We’ve had really good support from Mansfield Minor Baseball and the Senior Cubs team,” said Junior coach Dave Metz. “We went to the League’s Annual General Meeting and they accepted us into the Junior Division. We’ll be using the same uniforms as the Senior team.”

The League had a bit of a shakeup this year with several teams leaving the Junior Division and one team, the Alliston Athletics, moving up to the Senior level.

That leaves four teams competing in the Junior division for the new season.

The team has already started with some indoor practice, but the roster isn’t filled yet as some of the players are still at school.

Metz has been involved in Mansfield Minor Baseball and has spent the last few years with rep baseball in Innisfil. He is also the coach of the Centre Dufferin District High School baseball team – a program which he was responsible for getting started at the local high school.

“Almost all of the players on this new Junior team have played in Mansfield and some are from the Innisfil team,” Metz explained. “Six of our players were on the Shelburne High School team. Right now we have ten full-time players and five or six part-time players.”

Other teams competing in the Junior division this season are Ivy, New Lowell, and Midland.

As with all new entries, the first year is usually a time when a squad is trying to see how they fit into the League.

“Most of the team are first year Junior players so we’ll have to see how it works out,” Metz said.

Mansfield has a long tradition of baseball and the Airport Road diamond is usually quite busy all summer long.

The Mansfield Junior team will play their home opener on Saturday, May 14, at 5.00 p.m. against Midland.

By Brian Lockhart