triumph in the face of disaster - the fl ood of 2013
Mavericks have a season to remember,
on and off the fi eld By CHARLES LEFEBVRE
Medicine Hat Mavericks owner and general manager Greg Morrison considers the 2013 Mavericks baseball season a season he’ll never forget, for many reasons.
The team set the Western Major Baseball League record for wins. They made it the league final once again.
Oh, and they also had to change stadiums shortly after the start of the season.
Both of the city’s sports complexes, Medicine Hat Arena and Athletic Park, received heavy damage when the South Saskatchewan River flooded in June. The Medicine Hat Tigers held camp at the Family Leisure Centre and a pre-season game at the Kinplex, but the team was back in The Arena in time for their home opener.
Greg Morrison calls the 2013 Medicine Hat Mavericks season one to never forget, due to earning the best record in Western Major Baseball League history and being moved from Athletic Park due to the flood.
The Mavericks were not as lucky, being forced to play at Jeffries Park for the remainder of the season after the flood hit. Morrison can remember when he found out the park was going to get flooded.
“I received a call, it was earlier in the morning that day (June 21), We had a full day to evacuate,” he said. “We were out of here almost a full day before.”
From knowing the years past and how the water came up, we just tried to get just about everything we could out of here. Luckily our players were in town, so we had about 15 guys in town to help us before they went to Lethbridge, we had season ticket holders and family members. It was about eight to 10 hours of work just getting things into trailers and moving it out of here.”
The water made it over sandbags surrounding the park and completely flooded the field. The water was up onto the concourse which runs beneath the stands. Morrison said when he got access to the park, he could barely see the surface.
“Knowing from what happened in 1995, I knew it was going to take us out of Athletic Park,” he said.
The team moved to Jeffries Park, which is the next largest in the city. The park had to be set up like an event every home
game, and even with bleachers moved in, could only accommodate approximately 500 people, compared to the 1,200 Athletic Park could hold.
Lovell McDonnell, co-ordinator of multiple baseball leagues in town, including the American Legion Baseball League, had to meet with stakeholders who used the two parks and find a solution to keep their seasons going.
“The seasons had to compressed into one park rather than two,” he said.
“Through discussions with the different teams and some flexible scheduling, we were able to finish all of the teams’ seasons in the park.”
In addition to the Mavericks, American Legion teams, older little league teams and an adult league were able to use the field.
“I knew there was going to be a struggle to survive, but there were a lot of people who stepped up,” he said. “We only had to cancel one game, pushed it later on into the year, and we were playing Thursday up there.”
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2014 REPORT ON SOUTHEAST ALBERTA
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