The Howe Sound Cannons men's baseball team exchanged sluggers for shovels to get a head start fixing up the unofficially named Laroy Watt Field at Brennan Park on Saturday (April 19).While hundreds gathered at the park for Soccerfest, the reigning North Shore Men's Baseball Association (NSMBA) champions spent the day building up the pitcher's mound and edging the base paths for the home opener against the A's on Saturday (May 10)."When teams come up here it hasn't been in great shape before so it's good having the field looking tip top," said player/manager David Jones."It's quite an undertaking as it is. There's quite a bit to do."Jones said the team was worried the district wouldn't have completed the spring cleanup in time for the season, so they decided to take it upon themselves.According to Director of Recreation, Parks and Tourism Bob Kusch, staff had started work on the infield but had yet to complete the job. He said the district planned to have all base paths and infield work completed before the start of the season."The group had not contacted us regarding the mound rebuilding but, if they had, we would have done it at some point," Kusch said, adding that he will let the Cannons finish the job."We were not aware that this group was going to undertake doing what they did this past weekend and we were quite surprised when we arrived on Monday and saw what had been done. As their work has not been completed ,I have told our staff to let them finish what they started and then we will evaluate what else needs to be done after they are done."The Cannons are looking to the season ahead and defending their long awaited championship title, which took them five years to earn. Now in their sixth year, the players in their mid-20s are tighter than ever to take on the five older 30-something teams."It took a while to gel, to grow up," said Jones. "So we had a lot of explosions and implosions until last year when we became more of a unit."Jones said most of the team played local ball in their youth and some advanced further. The NSMBA allows the guys to continue playing against good teams without taking the game too seriously. "Every team can beat every team so it's a good league," he said. "It's for fun and recreation but it's competitive too." The Cannons' season starts on the road against the Pirates on Saturday (May 3).
