The local minor softball association hopes something can be done to increase the number of diamonds appropriate for the sport, but Mayor Cathy Heron and the city's director of recreation and parks say it's unlikely.
Unlike the St. Albert Minor Baseball Association (SAMBA) and its Legion Memorial Ball Parks, or the St. Albert Mens Slow Pitch Association (SAMPSA) and its Meadowview diamonds, Fastball St. Albert doesn't have a home facility. Instead, local competitive and recreational softball players use diamonds near schools throughout the city.
While the city maintains 25 such public diamonds, Fastball St. Albert president Shelley McIntosh says just eight of those fields were available for softball last season, and only three are suitable for players over the age of 15.
“Proximity to roads, cars and soccer fields are an ongoing challenge for our older athletes to find a suitable place to play,” McIntosh said. She added the association consistently needed to rent three diamonds outside city limits for U15 and U18 teams.
“None of the diamonds we are allocated have proper dugouts and none are fenced, which can make conditions a challenge, as people use them at times they shouldn't and cause damage that makes it often dangerous to practise on,” she said. “None of the diamonds have washroom facilities and none have stands for fans to watch from.”
“We play in many communities over the course of the season and St. Albert is the only one who does not have a home for their athletes.”
Without a facility to call their own, McIntosh said St. Albert's youth softball players are missing out on being able to host major tournaments like provincials or nationals, despite local teams routinely taking home top honours.
This season, Fastball St. Albert had three teams win provincials, another team win a competitive league championship, and a U11 team were league champions. The year before, another two teams won provincials and a U13 team competed in the Little League Softball World Series as the first team from Alberta to partake in the uber-prestigious tournament in more than 20 years.
With limited field space in mind, Fastball St. Albert sent a letter to city council last month asking them to commit to building six new softball-specific diamonds in St. Albert.
“It would be great to have a facility for (softball) similar to the Legion facility SAMBA has for baseball and the Meadowview facility that SAMSPA has for slow pitch,” McIntosh said.
In an interview, Mayor Cathy Heron said such a project isn't feasible.
“We're happy to and excited to bring in an additional field (as part of the future community amenities site) but to go beyond that right now is going to be difficult for for so many reasons,” Heron said.
“One of them would be the competing need ... the thought of bringing in six new diamonds at the expense of other sporting groups would be a hard pill to swallow.”
Space for diamonds is another issue, Heron said.
“We need land,” she said. “But there is no land.”
“The community amenities site is our next big attempt to solve these issues and we are trying to squeeze in as many sports on the piece of land as we can.”
Likewise, the city's director of recreation and parks, Daniele Podlubny, said in an email the city's only plan for additional softball diamonds is the lone field included in the community amenities site design, and through new community parks. Podlubny did not specify any new parks planned to include a ball diamond.
“In 2022, the city engaged residents to understand their recreation needs through the Recreation Needs Assessment,” Podlubny said. “Feedback was then used as part of a larger prioritization exercise that identified ball diamonds as a medium-priority need within the community.”
'Can't build it all'
When asked if she thought there might be an issue of fairness for softball not having a individual facility, given SAMBA's Legion Memorial Ball Parks or how other minor sports, such as soccer and rugby, both have clubhouses and multi-field facilities in Riel Park, Heron said development has reached a point where building every sport a home in St. Albert just isn't possible.
“We can't build it all for everyone,” she said.
“I think there's got to be better conversations about what's going on in the region ... so maybe one community can really be focused on baseball, one can be focused on soccer, another focused on gymnastics.”
Heron also said she believes municipalities in the area should create a “regional recreation plan.”
For McIntosh and Fastball St. Albert, a lack of diamonds could limit the number of players the association can register each year.
“We have around 300 registered athletes each year,” she said. “We cannot really market to grow past this due to a lack of diamonds.”
“Even more disappointing than the lack of facilities for our athletes is that projects are coming in and taking the few diamonds that we do have and there are no plans to replace them,” McIntosh said. She referred to Active Communities Alberta's twin outdoor rink project expected to break ground in the near future in the field space behind Paul Kane High School, where two public diamonds have been used for softball for years.
“We were very thankful they did not (break ground) this season, as these diamonds have always been a critical piece to our operations and some of the best options we have access to,” she said. “It is also the only location we have where there are diamonds together for us to host smaller association events and run our evaluations each year.”
“Once these are gone we will no longer have anywhere to go like this in St. Albert as there is no other site with more than one diamond at the same location we have access to.”
