In the middle of snow and cold, baseball big-wigs are making their way to Prince George Tuesday.
The shadow committee slated to plan and operate the 2012 Baseball Canada Senior Championship is holding a press conference this afternoon, 1:30 p.m. in the McGregor Room at the Coast Inn of the North. The featured guests will be Ray Carter, the president of Baseball Canada, and David Laing, the executive director of Baseball B.C.
Virginia Sprangers, the bid committee chair who led the efforts to attract the national men's baseball championship, will be leading a day-long set of meetings, including a lunch at the downtown location of Shooter's Pub.
Prince George also played host to the tournament in 2002 at now-gone Monty Gabriele Park, and that event essentially led to the construction of Prince George Citizen Field with the design of attracting more major baseball tournaments. That strategy played out with the 2009 World Baseball Challenge, which will take place in July of 2011.
"We are so pleased to have Ray and David here, to talk about the 2012 Baseball Canada Senior Championship and meet with our key people as we prepare to host another great baseball tournament at Citizen Field," said Sprangers.
"So many great people combined to win this bid, and this is our first chance to really give details of what will happen, and to listen and learn from Ray and David, who are so highly-respected in baseball circles across Canada."
The tournament is expected to include 10 teams, bring more than 300 direct participants and countless fans. The dates have been set -- Aug. 23-26, 2012, using both Citizen Field and Rotary Park.
