It is that time of year again, Dustball has begun at fields across the city. I want to start this out with a quick personal observation.

I have only lived in Whitehorse for nine months so this will be my first experience with this tournament. Every since I have been here (I arrived in October) I have heard mention of this tournament called Dustball.

Now that it has arrived you can feel a certain buzz in the city, at least I feel it when I’m out and about on my travels.

Everyone I have spoken to, and with this job you speak to a lot of people, seem to be playing in the tournament, have played in the tournament or have some story relating to it.

It has added to my excitement and I can’t wait to get out there and cover it and see what all the hoopla is about.

“It is the big tournament of the year in Whitehorse for sure,” said George Arcand, executive director of Softball Yukon.

“People talk about it, they wait for it and ball dies off after it.

“There are tournaments in some communities but nobody has 60-70 teams and 1000 ballplayers and games all over the place. It is the biggest one north of 60.”

Arcand spoke to the growing anticipation of Dustball as it approaches.

“We start hearing it in May and June and the players in the leagues are all talking about it,” said Arcand. “So for sure the buzz and Thursday night is exciting, everyone gets up for it, but it’s just the beginning. Seven-o-clock will come quickly for some teams.”

Dustball 2019 has 61, Arcand said this is about par, competing teams across men’s, women’s co-ed squads. The men and women’s categories feature three divisions each and the co-ed has four.

The tournament will have a team from Norman Wells, North West Territories, a team from Inuvik, eight teams from Alaska as well as teams from the communities.

Beginning Thursday was the pool play to determine the seeding in each division; the women’s division begins today.

Once the seeding has been determined and the teams have been put into their respective pools they will play double elimination until a champion is decided.

The games went by quickly on Thursday as the teams played what is called three-pitch. Once the batter steps into the box they automatically have two balls and a strike.

“Now you can’t stand there and watch pitches as much,” said Arcand. “It speeds the game up. It induces the batter to swing and hit and move the games along.”

This rule was put into practice last year but Arcand said it will now be instituted throughout the tournament.

“What’s new this year instead of just the round-robin it will be right through the elimination round and championship games,” said Arcand. “What we are finding is on Sunday, we don’t have time limits, so we had to find a way to speed it up.”

By keeping the three-pitch rule throughout Dustball it will keep the tournament consistent through its duration. Arcand also said it will also help the teams get more innings and help the teams get more ball.

The Pepsi Softball Centre atmosphere was a festive place to be. The stands weren’t completely full but they were loud and cheers and jeers could be heard echoing throughout the complex.

The diamonds from across the street were equally loud and the roars from the teams and crowd could be heard reverberating through the Softball Centre.

The action on the field was fast and intense. In the co-ed division pool 2, Total North won via walk-off against the CRB Hawks after their player hit an opposite-field drive that landed in front of the right-fielder allowing the player on second to score without a play at the plate.

Hub International did it on both sides of the ball. Their bats were hot and their defence was a brick wall as they downed the Bluewave Energy squad 21-9.

The Backdoor Sliders opened their tournament with a convincing win over the Kaska Grizzlies 31-17 and the Predators escaped with a narrow win against the BLC Knights 16-15.

The Dustball action will be non-stop until Sunday. The round-robin play continues and the double-elimination round games will begin later this afternoon and continue through Saturday.

Sunday will be the championship matches for all nine pools. The men’s A final will be the final game played at 1:15 p.m. The women’s A title game will precede at 12:00 p.m.

Good luck to all the players, and for those who aren’t playing enjoy the ball.