North Dufferin Baseball League prepares for 2023 season

April 20, 2023 · 0 Comments

Written By Brian Lockhart

The boys of summer will be back when the North Dufferin Baseball League’s 2023 senior schedule gets underway on Saturday, May 6.

The opening game will pit the Mansfield Cubs against the Creemore Padres at Gowan Memorial Park in Creemore.

The defending Strother Cup champions, the New Lowell Knights, will be back to see if they can have a repeat this season.

There are 12 teams in the line-up this season from towns across the region, or more accurately, the province, as some of the squads will have to travel a considerable distance to place some games.

Enter this year’s Senior League: are 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.

Each team will play 22 regular season games this year in an attempt to get a playoff spot.

The Mansfield Cubs will be back on their home diamond at Mansfield Community Park.

“We are excited to get the season going and we practiced on Wednesday and will practice today,” said Mansfield 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. We are also looking forward to getting new uniforms, but will start the season with our old uniforms. Mulmur Township has been very supportive and helpful maintaining Mansfield Parks and we all hope to continue community building together.”

A lot of pre-season work goes into putting together a team and getting a schedule together. This includes finding qualified umpires to run the game.

“We are very fortunate to have a dedicated and skilled umpire in Rob Newton,” Emerson said. “It takes pressure off organizing our team when we don’t have to continually search for umpires.”

The NDBL’s Junior Division is still working on this year’s schedule, but opening day is predicted to be in mid-May.

The Cubs first game will be on the road in Creemore.

Mansfield’s home opener will take place at Mansfield Community Park on Sunday, May 14, with the first pitch scheduled for 2:00 p.m.