Four Vernon baseball diamonds will have welcome electronic additions in 2021.
Vernon Baseball Association has partnered with the Funtastic Sports Society and City of Vernon to install scoreboards at two diamonds at Marshall Field, and two boards at the diamonds at Lakeview Park.
VBA president Michael Sanfilippo said the scoreboards will continue to showcase Vernon as a phenomenal place to play baseball in the Okanagan.
“A big thank you to the City of Vernon, the Funtastic team, Nathan Lee, our field director for working so hard on bringing this to reality and to Kendra Kryszak, with the city’s parks department, for fighting so hard for us behind the scenes,” said Sanfilippo. “These scoreboards will really enhance the look and feel of the fields for the kids and parents as well as enhance our bids to continue to bring provincial championship tournaments to Vernon.”
Vernon recently hosted the B.C. 13UAAA and 11UAAA Tier 2 provincial tournaments in 2018. The 11U event at Lakeview, and the 13U tourney at Creekside Park, featured homemade, hand-operated scoreboards for the provincials. That started the movement to get electric scoreboards at some of the minor baseball diamonds.
Funds generated from those provincial events helped minor baseball with the scoreboards which will be donated by Funtastic, and the City of Vernon will cover $15,000 of the installation costs (Vernon Baseball will pick up the rest).
The city will also provide $6,000 in maintenance annually for the scoreboards.
The Midget diamond at Marshall Field is planning for an 18-by-six-foot board with innings and the ‘whole nine yards’ as described by Sanfilippo. The Bantam field at Marshall and the two Lakeview Park fields that host the Mosquito leagues are planning to get 10-by-four-foot boards that highlight the score, inning, outs, and balls and strikes.
“This year (2020) was a tough year for all youth athletics but we are thrilled to be looking forward and working together with great partners to enhance youth sports in Vernon,” Sanfilippo said.
READ MORE: Vernon baseball teams hosting B.C. championships
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