Woodstock hosting another U13 national baseball tournament

Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Play ball! Those words will be heard starting Aug. 21 as Woodstock Minor Baseball (WMB) plays host to the best U13 baseball teams in the country. The Friendly City is hosting the tournament for the third consecutive year and will do so again in 2026.

“I’ve been involved in bidding on these events over the last few years,” said executive member Brent Paltola. “We did one in 2018 and had a few years off. We were supposed to do 2021 but it was sidelined because of the pandemic but we ended up with 2023 through 2025 and now 2026.”

He explained the Baseball Canada application process is extensive.

“It goes into the quality and availability of your facilities, the willingness of the host city to support the application, specific details about the dimensions of your diamonds, access for people with mobility issues, hotel accommodation, transportation, you name it.”

Paltola added support from the provincial association is also important along with backing from the municipality and key sponsors.

“Any evidence regarding how we have successfully conducted big events in the past. We’ve been through it a few times now and we’re starting to get pretty good at it.”

The association has an organizing committee that has grown to 11 people over years, including a core of half a dozen people who have been around since the first year. Volunteers during the actual tournament itself is crucial to its success.

“As you noted, Woodstock is a baseball town. We had a lot of people who are interested in participating. We have 12 to 17-year-olds doing food service and adults in charge of selling tickets, field preparation and transportation. We have a beverage tent where we have Smart Serve certified individuals. We do a lot of work around ensuring our volunteers are able to meet the needs of the event,” explained Paltola.

It takes between 45 and 60 volunteers on any given day to pull off the event each year. It also doesn’t hurt to have a pretty good ball team on the field.

“The goal was always to make it to the tournament whether we had to win the year-end tournament or not. This group has done a lot of bonding. We went to Cooperstown last year to a similar style tournament,” said coach Mitch Latimer. “These boys are ready to go and nothing is going to surprise them. It’s going to be high-level competitive baseball. We’ve done everything we can to be ready for this moment.”

He added if any of the kids on the team were asked if they wanted to live in Cooperstown, they would likely say yes.

“It’s like Disney World for baseball. They still talk about it to this day and I feel like this tournament will have the same kind of feel. I have a good group that will be competitive. It won’t be overwhelming for them from the baseball side of it. They will make memories and stories to talk about for years to come.”

The team has complied a record of 27 wins, 11 losses and a pair of ties this season. They earned a gold and silver medal at AAA tournaments and now have the opportunity to compete for a national title in their hometown. The action begins on Thursday, Aug. 21 at Southside Park with the gates opening at 5 p.m. Opening ceremonies kick off at 6 p.m. and Woodstock will battle New Brunswick at 7:30 p.m.

Nathan Webster is the association’s president and said the opening night has been branded as  Woodstock Baseball Night. His hope is to get not just baseball fans out to the event, but anyone in the community interested in having a good time at no charge.

“We’d love to get locals down to support it. There’s always been of a questions around the financial barrier, what are people willing to pay to come out. The opening night is donation only in support of the Unted Way. Come on down and watch some baseball. All our travel teams are expected to come down so there’s 250 kids there along with our house league kids and all their parents.”

Webster said he’s hoping some people who maybe don’t think about baseball will come out and decide it’s a sport they’d like to get their kids into.

“They can take a look and see the impact it has on the community.”

He added his job is to ensure the good ideas people have get incorporated into the event.

“This year we have some new faces on the board who brought in some new ideas so we have incorporated some of that in along with keeping what’s been working for a few years. A lot of props go out to the board that has been in place the last 10 or 15 years. They have put WMB in a good financial position.”

He added a solid relationship with the city has helped land big events such as the Canadian championship.

“We want to continue to move the organization forward and build on that legacy.”

A 50/50 draw is also being held throughout the weekend with all teams taking part in ticket sales. Money raised will go towards the installation of scoreboards at the Tip O-‘Neil and Southside diamonds.

More information, including ticket prices, is available at https://baseball.ca/?fd=champ&pg=participant_info&evt=13u.