Joey Payeur
A motion recently was carried by the Township of La Vallee council that helped put young ball players back in motion.
“Without council, this wouldn’t have happened,” township administrative assistant Leeann Galusha said about the revival of a junior T-ball and softball program in Devlin, which is set to start May 8.
The five council members agreed to cover any shortfall in costs when it came to using the $30 registration fees for each participant to purchase equipment.
But when it was discovered the fees were enough to cover the equipment, council went ahead and purchased the T-shirts for every player signing up.
“Council had a big part in this,” Galusha reiterated.
“They were all in on doing it.”
The revival of the youth baseball program in Devlin stemmed from the fact Galusha has a five-year-old son who was interested in learning the sport, which led her to touch base with fellow resident Ashley Mutz, who has three sons aged six, nine, and 11 who also were looking to play.
They, in turn, connected with local teacher Dane Dalseg, with a six- and 10-year-old of his own.
“We all sat down and put our ideas together, and Dane came up with the age groups and we went from there,” noted Galusha, who said the minor league softball (ages nine-10) and junior league softball (ages 11-12) categories filled up within the first week.
Registration now is closed for all divisions, which also include T-ball (ages five-six), Little League T-ball/softball (ages seven-eight), and senior league softball (age 13).
Galusha’s lone regret was not having had the registration forms to the public before Fort Frances Youth Soccer and Emo Youth Soccer put theirs out.
“There are situations where kids signed up for soccer already, and then found out about our program and wanted to play ball, but couldn’t since they already signed up for soccer,” she explained.
“So we’ll try and get them [registration forms] out earlier next time.”
The program still is in need of a coach for the Little League T-ball/softball division, with Galusha hoping a parent of one of the players would be willing to step up.
For more information, call Galusha at the township office (486-3452).
