After coaching the U18 West Kootenay Wild to the provincial hockey championship March 26, Jim Maniago took one day off before getting set for baseball season.
As coach of the Trail 18U Orioles, Maniago and the O’s coaching staff selected the All Star team in preparation for College Prep League opening season this weekend with back-to-back doubleheaders vs the Rangers in Cloverdale (April 8-9).
“Well ready or not, baseball is starting,” said Maniago. “We picked our College Prep team yesterday (Sunday). It’ll be a younger team this year and a big turnover.”
The College Prep League is run by BC Minor Baseball and consists of nine teams including Chilliwack, Cloverdale, Vancouver Island Mariners, North Fraser, COMBA (Kelowna), Kamloops, Ridge Meadows, North Shore and Trail.
Maniago expects to face a very talented Cloverdale team, who finished second overall in the regular season in 2022, but will also seek a measure of revenge on the Orioles.
In last year’s playoff, the seventh-seed Orioles eliminated second-seed Cloverdale in a best-of-three quarter-final. With the win, Trail booked their ticket to the final-four round robin tournament for the second year in a row.
The Orioles just missed advancing to the final, losing 3-2 in an extra inning tie breaker with eventual champion North Fraser, and finished third overall.
The 18U Orioles plays its opening season doubleheader this Saturday with games at 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. in Hillcrest Park, and on Sunday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
There will also be a 15U Trail All Star team with tryouts upcoming, and Maniago hopes to see a 13U All Star team compete if numbers and interest allow.
“We’re thinking our 13U and 15U teams will head back to Spokane American Legion as it’s the more reasonable option in terms of travel,” said Maniago, who is also the president of Trail Youth Baseball.
Trail Youth Baseball is also waiting for the go ahead as the renovations continue at Butler Park. New light standards and netting is being installed to replace aging infrastructure that was brought down by a January, 2021 wind storm.
“We’ve got good registration,” said Maniago. “It looks like we (Trail) will have four Junior teams and two Senior house teams.”
In all, the Junior League could have eight teams, with two in Nelson and one in Castlegar and Grand Forks. The Senior league will consist of five teams with two in Nelson and one in Castlegar.
“With the lights back up we’ll be able to get back to a full program for the first time since before COVID,” added Maniago.
“And we can always use help with coaches and umpires.”