The sun was shining, the fields were freshly lined, and the enthusiasm was high. How fortunate and blessed we are to be able to enjoy a sport we love at our time of life and to socialize with so many wonderful, equally-minded friends!
Those were my thoughts as we launched the 60+ Mixed Slo-Pitch season.
Although it was a long opening day for some of our teams which played doubleheaders, the games seemed to proceed without any major glitches.
Thanks to all our captains and members of the Executive who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this a successful day. In particular, special kudos to:

• Ken Kroeker for facilitating the informative Umpire and Pitching Screen Clinic;
• Ron Fedoruk, for maintaining our website and created our schedule;
• Chery Ferguson, our departing treasurer, for ensuring all league fees were promptly collected and all bills paid;
• Dan Stankovic, our Secretary, for putting in untold hours during the preseason to create our player data base and secure our league insurance; and
• Malcolm Bruce, our VP of Operations, for facilitating our team selection process and coordinating all on-field arrangements

I am pleased to announce that we have a new league treasurer – Maureen Feagan has graciously stepped forward and volunteered to fill this important position on the Executive.

All team shirts were distributed yesterday. If you were absent from the first week of play, your captain will have your shirt for you next week. I am aware of a couple of anomalies with shirt sizes. If you received a shirt that is not the size you ordered, please inform your captain.

Finally, I wanted to thank Al Richman and the other members of Al’s Diner who, following their games, went for lunch to their sponsor’s restaurant. This was not only a great way to build team camaraderie at the beginning of the season but as well a terrific way to thank Al’s Diner owner Al Ayoub for sponsoring a team in our league. Needless to say, Al Ayoub was very pleased and impressed by this wonderful gesture of support.

                                           Date,     Time         D#

Chances R @ K & S   –  May 13   – 11:00   – D#4

Law & Ords @ Cdns   – May 20    – 11:00  – D#4

Defalcos  @ Boomers – May 27   -9:30     – D#4

Pontiac Bakery @ Myers- May 20  – 9:30 – D#4

Al’s Diner v Hometown-     May 13 – 9:30   – D#4

Crete-Ryan @ Royal Oak – TBD – June 24  or 12:30 one of the May/June dates

Volunteerism
Volunteers have been the foundation of our league since its beginning and are
critical to its on-going operation.
We need people to ‘step forward’ to help out:
• Treasurer Vacancy
• On-field help: umpires, batting practice coordinator for July and August, sponsored lunches helpers, etc.
• Looking ahead, both the current Secretary and President will be stepping down in fall, creating two more vacancies on the Executive

‘Thank You’s’
• To those on Rules Committee
• Ron Fedoruk – website and schedule
• Ken Kroeker – Umpire, Captains, and Pitcher clinic on May 6
• Doug Humphries for agreeing to coordinate the Tuesday morning batting practices at Hampton Park for the months of May, June, and September.
• Two new sponsor’s – Al’s Diner and Sens Foundation (Boomers); We also acknowledge, with thanks, our continuing sponsors: Chances R, Crete-Ryan, Defalco’s, Hometown, KS on The Keys, Law & Orders, Myers Orleans, Pontiac Home Bakery, and Royal Oak.
• Past Exec Members: Daryl Leach (VP Social), Chery Ferguson (Treasurer), & Robin Boyd (President). Each was presented with a gift card.

Communication Protocols
• Website has the for schedule of games, League Handbook (including rules of play), Email addresses for Exec members, and updates/news
• There will be emails from the league to all players and scorekeepers
• There will also be emails from captains regarding inclement weather and last-minute updates. Your captain is the person you should approach with questions, suggestions, and concerns.

Schedule
• There are 21 weeks of play – May 6 through September 23
• There are 12 teams grouped in two divisions;
• There are 6 games per week – three at 9:30 am and three at 11 a.m.
• We are using Diamonds 2 and 3 throughout season; Diamond 1 will be used in May, June, September, and Diamond 4 in July/August
• There are 16 weeks of regular season; each team plays all teams within its division twice and teams in the other division once
• There are 5 weeks of playoffs, beginning August 26 – a 4-week round robin followed by final games
• All games are on Tuesday mornings with the exception of two Wednesday games – July 2 (Canada Day is a Tuesday this summer) and June 25 (RA diamonds not available Tuesday, June 17)

First Day (May 6) Considerations
• Captains will have a waiver form for all players to read and sign; You must sign in order to play; important note: Our league provides liability insurance; info on how to obtain accident insurance from Slo-Pitch Ontario (SPO) is available on our website
• Umpire/Captains/Pitching Clinic will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Diamond 1; The start of late morning games will be delayed until 11:30 a.m.
• Our team shirts will not be ready in time for the opening week of play on May 6. Our captains to coordinate colours for games on this day ie. home teams wear white; visitors wear coloured shirts.
• A gentle reminder that the RA Centre is a smoke-free environment; no smoking is permitted, including in the parking lot or the playing fields.

Please confirm your attendance by Friday April 25.  To reserve your spot, rsvp to our VP Social at vpsocial.ottawa60plusslopitch@gmail.com, so we can provide the restaurant with the number of people expected.

Hello All

Hello League Players

We are introducing a more streamlined registration process this year. First, rather than asking for the same information that has already been collected and entered into our database, we are only interested in any changes in your personal information that may have occurred since the end of the last season. Second, the registration process will consist of only email communications as opposed to completing and returning registration forms. Signed waiver forms will still be required but this will be accomplished at the ball diamond when you come to the first game.

Please note that as a result of increased rental fees imposed by the RA Centre, we are required to increase our registration fees to $95 from $85 in 2024. This is the League’s first fee increase at least since 2018.

 It is very important therefore, that you respond to this email by March 14, 2025 if you are planning to return and if so, if you want to remain full time or part time players. If you don’t reply, we will assume that you will not be returning. If you are returning as a full-time player, please be sure that you can play at least 2/3 of the season. If not, then please consider joining as a part time player.

Please email your response by replying to this email  (ottawa60plusslopitch@gmail.com).

It is also important to indicate in your email response how you will pay the registration fee – by internet etransfer or by cheque. More detailed directions are provided at the end of this invitation. Please make payment by the March 14 deadline. We can only register you once payment has been received.

In your email response, please also only include any changes to last year’s registration form which could include address and phone number changes, changes in your health condition that you think, your future team captain should be aware of, any change to your CPR status if you indicated as such last year, and any changes related to your emergency contact (name, address, phone number). If you are not sure if there are changes, include the information anyways.

If you wish, you can indicate if you want to be matched up with another player such as scorekeepers, spouses/partners and nearby neighbours and if you have a preferred position in the field that is different from last year.

A couple of footnotes: 1) we are hoping to expand to 12 teams this year which appears to be feasible based on the number of players we had for 10 teams in 2024 and the number of additional part-time players who would have liked to play full time. So, it is important to reply to this invitation by March 14. 2) We will be asking for volunteers to be Team Captains and Umpires after our registration is completed and we know who is coming back.

I look forward to seeing all of you back on the ball diamond this year and to another fun, successful 60+ slo-pitch season.

Peter Atkinson, President

Attachment: Directions for Fee Payment (Full Time Players Only)

(Please note that Chery Ferguson has kindly returned as the interim Treasurer of our League.)

If Payment is by Cheque:

Please make cheque payable to Ottawa 60+ Slo-Pitch League and mail to Ottawa 60+ Slo-Pitch League, 6084 Willowbark Drive, Orleans, Ont. K1C 5T8. If you intend to hand deliver an envelope with the payment to the Treasurer’s address, please advise Chery by email (treasurer.ottawa60plusslopitch@gmail.com) before doing so as there is no mailbox at the house.

If Payment is by Interac E-transfer:

Please send to treasurer.ottawa60plusslopitch@gmail.com

If you have previously sent money to the treasurer and still have the above receiving email as your “Payee”, there is no security question or answer required as the League account has an automatic deposit. In the MESSAGE Box, please identify the name of the player who is registering for the 2025 season to ensure the monies received matches up with the registering player.

If you have not yet set up the League’s treasurer’s email as a “Payee” with your bank, you may have to include a security question and answer. Please use the following for the Security Question: “position on field” and as the Security Answer: “shortstop” (excluding quotation marks). Once this is entered and you proceed to create the e-transfer, a message will indicate that an automatic deposit has been set up for this “Payee”. Also make sure the treasurer’s email is entered accurately as the Payee. In the MESSAGE Box, please identify the name of the player who is registering for the 2025 season to ensure the monies received matches up with the registering player.