Slo-Pitch

A NEW SPIRIT POINT SYSTEM IS IN TOWN. At the Sport and Social Club, ‘improvement’ is the name of the game. We are constantly seeking feedback from our players because our Club wouldn’t be our Club without you. Over the past several months, our team has been working on a full overhaul of our Spirit Point System to better match what our players value most, and to make our processes for managing sportsmanship issues at league nights cleaner and faster. This past Winter 2023 season, several divisions were selected to trial the new system and provide their feedback. Their feedback?

DID YOU KNOW?...
...That we have a Field Maintenance Program?
...That we invest tens of thousands of dollars each year into this program?
...That we maintain an average of 90 playing fields each season?

Most players are aware of the City’s involvement in sports field maintenance, but not many are aware of the Club’s involvement. Call it a humble brag, but we’re proud of the program we’ve built and we want YOU to know about it.

Cold weather got you feeling down? Wishing you could escape to some tropical destination? We can’t book you a ticket to Mexico, but we could register you for our newest Indoor sport offering! Enter Wiffleball: the perfect alternative for our vitamin D deprived Slo-Pitch players who are just aching to get back out there for some simulated Spring and Summer fun.

It’s the age-old debate, right? Dill Pickle or Seasoned? Salted or Cracked Pepper? Smoky BBQ or Spicy Sweet Chili?

One of the most important components of any Slo-Pitch player’s ball bag, next to the speaker, is the bag of Spitz (Spicy Sweet Chili). But what kind do you bring (Spicy Sweet Chili)? How many bags is too many bags? What on earth do you do if the only flavor available in the store is Salted?

If you have been playing in our leagues you should be aware that at the SSC we schedule regular season Slo-Pitch games in a 90 minute time slot or for a maximum of 7 innings.

During certain parts of the season, when sunlight permits, the SSC schedules two games in a row on the same diamond, so it is important to finish your game on time. This ensures the teams playing in the second rotation have a full 90 minutes to complete their game before the darkness sets in, or the field permit ends.

Ever show up to a field and your opponents don’t show? Or maybe you want to get a practice in with just you, yourself, and your team? I am here to help guide you through how to do just that!

To play a fun practice game you will only need 12 players; you don’t need two full teams. With 12 players, you can play 4 vs. 4 vs. 4: 4 batters, 4 infield players and 4 outfield players. When the batting team gets three outs, they rotate to play the infield, the infield goes to the outfield and then the outfield is up to bat.

Everyone can swing a bat or catch a ball, but do you know which position you and your teammates should be playing?

In our Slo-Pitch leagues, a full team would consist of 10 players on defense:

• 4 Infielders
• 3 Outfielders
• 1 Catcher
• 1 Pitcher
• 1 Rover

A diagram of where these positions tend to lineup can be seen below:

We get it, you’re at your game and urine it to win it but then nature calls. You’re a whiz when it comes to sports but don’t always plan ahead. Well in our ESSC leagues, you bladder plan ahead as that would be golden! Okay, these puns are getting ex-stream.

Here are some helpful tips to avoid urination complaints from the neighbours and City of Edmonton:

Some players may be wondering why umpires are not making the calls at your ESSC Slo-Pitch games. Although having umpires might help with those tough calls there are a few reasons why they won’t be calling balls and strikes at your games.

A big reason would be there is no umpire association that can provide 50+ umpires each night. With the amount of teams in our league and all the diamonds we use each night we would have to fly in umpires from all over the province to call our recreational slo-pitch games. We just can’t do it!

We have all played those games where one player on the opposing team keeps cranking the ball over the outfielders heads with seemingly no effort; how much Wheaties do they eat for breakfast? Do they eat it for lunch and dinner too? Regardless of the amount of cereal they may or may not eat in a single day, we provide all teams with reduced flight Slo-Pitch balls that they are required to use for all games. Sure, maybe that sounds boring, but it helps keep the playing field even. Even with the reduced flight composition, these babies can fly 300+ feet when you hit the sweet-spot.