AA Yankees get baseball season up and running

The Lac St. Louis Yankees AA organization celebrated their 10th year of existence by kicking off the 2009 season with a fundraiser this past Saturday. Games began at 9 in the morning and continued through until the evening, seeing all five AA Yankees teams compete.

The day-long affair featured a barbecue, a professional photographer with a printing station on site and a booth selling AA Yankees merchandise with all profits going towards dropping the costs for players on all teams.

Despite grey skies and the occasional shower, Lac St. Louis Baseball President Steve Shelton was happy with the outcome and was hopeful that a similar opening day event could be organized in future years.

Coaching at the AA level since 2002, Shelton moved into his current position as Lac St. Louis Baseball President two seasons ago and has seen significant growth in the program.

He has a hand in the development of all five teams and is head coach of the Bantam Major squad, one that would fall 12-2 to the top-ranked Laval squad in their opener. Despite the lopsided score Shelton isn’t too concerned with the outcome of game one.

“Laval has shown over the past few years that they’re a great team, but normally the outcome is much closer,” he lamented. “We didn’t get any breaks today but remember that the core of this team was together a couple of years ago when they won the championship. It’s a long season.”

Indeed, with 28 regular season games, the playoffs, a tournament near Boston organized by former Expos and Red Sox GM Dan Duquette and an exchange with a team from Quebec on tap, his squad will likely be on the diamond upwards of 40 times before the summer is over.

With the five teams (peewee minor and major, bantam minor and major and midget), playing out of Parc des Bénévoles in Kirkland, there will be plenty of opportunities to track the teams’ progress throughout the summer. Schedules and additional information can be found on their website at www.aayankees.com.

Chronicle, Jacques Pharand