By Troy Gillard

first game friday night

Sylvan Lake Gulls take flight for home opener

Jun 17, 2021 | 6:11 PM

After more than two years of planning and building, navigating through a pandemic along the way, it’s finally time for the Sylvan Lake Gulls to play ball.

The Gulls take to the field for their inaugural game in the Western Canadian Baseball League Friday night at Gulls Stadium versus the Edmonton Prospects.

“It’s exciting. It’s been a long time coming,” said Gulls manager Jason Chatwood. “Throughout this whole thing, the organization has been patient and working and just preparing and preparing and preparing. To actually to get to this this day, it’s kind of surreal and amazing. Time to get to work.”

It’s not the Gulls team that was originally envisioned for year one – the pandemic has resulted in fewer WCBL teams playing this season than planned, and teams that are playing are fielding all-Canadian rosters – but Chatwood is confident in the squad they’ve assembled.

“We have a really, really versatile group of guys that can play many positions, and we’re going to pitch really, really well,” he feels. “I really like the fact that we’ve got some really experienced guys that have multiple years of college and university experience under their belt. Some of those guys will play a good leadership role for the younger guys.”

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The Gulls also have local players on their roster, such as Red Deer natives Zach Olson, Jared Arnold and Cooper Jones. And while it’s nice to have some hometown flavour on a brand new team, Chatwood says they’re more than deserving of their positions on the team.

“Just the fact that they’re local doesn’t mean they had it any easier than anybody else. They deserve to be on this roster, and they’re going to contribute and they’re all going to be impact players for us. That’s the reason why we recruited them.”

“It’s going to be bumping,” Olson surmized. “There’s going to be a lot of nerves, a lot of pressure, but I think we get into the game that’ll calm us down and we’ll settle into the way we play ball.”

The six-foot-three outfielder who’s played his college ball for the Colby Community College Trojans in Kansas says the Gulls have looked sharp in practice this week leading up to their debut.

“It’s been an eye opener to see what kind of guys we have. The lineup problems Jason is going to have with where to put guys, it’s going to be interesting to see.”

“I think it’s going to showcase the talent level of players that Western Canada, and all of Canada has to offer,” Chatwood predicted of the 2021 season. “I think it’s going to be a win, in my opinion, for this summer in this league after everything that we’ve went through. And then I think it’s just going to help build that excitement for next summer when the whole league can get back together and have a regular season.”

Gulls Stadium, still a work in progress, has 880 of its planned 2,000 seats installed this time. Just over 300 of them will be filled with fans for Friday’s home opener (first pitch at 6 p.m.).

They’ll welcome the Okotoks Dawgs (Red) to town Saturday night before visiting the Prospects in Edmonton on Sunday.