Benjamin Ortman up to bat against a Phoenix team.

Kevin McBain
of The Clarion

Opportunities in baseball are ever-growing in this province.

In- and out-of-province travel teams, training opportunities and even a couple of academies have started up in the past few years.

Local ballplayer Benjamin Ortman, recently competed in Phoenix with a Saskatoon team.

Benjamin Ortman recently took advantage of a chance to travel to Phoenix with a team from the Going Yard Training Centre in Saskatoon.

The 13-year-old, along with his brother Eli, mother Christie and father Andy, flew with the team to Phoenix to compete from Nov. 8 to 14 in the USSSA Veteran’s Salute tournament, an event that saw 125 teams competing in several age divisions.

Ortman’s team did well, beating a team from Phoenix on the mercy rule in the first game, and going undefeated in the next three games as well (although the scores were a little closer), before losing out in the tournament semifinal.

Benjamin said that it was a great experience.

“I really liked meeting new friends and I feel like I really improved,” he said. “The coaches were really good and the players were all really good.”

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Head coach of the team was Marshall Dean.

Benjamin mostly played left field in Phoenix, although he mainly plays third base and shortstop with the teams in Kindersley.

Christie said following the regular season, Benjamin just didn’t want baseball to be over quite yet.

To make the team, he attended tryouts in Saskatoon in August. There were four tryout dates, but he was told that he only needed to attend two because of the distance he had to travel.

He decided he wanted to go into three just to show the coaches how much he wanted to play. He and his mom were headed into the third when they got a phone call saying he had already made the team.

Benjamin Ortman and his team from the Going Yard Training Centre in Saskatoon.

Following tryouts, he and a driver went to practice three times a week for the next 12 weeks.

Benjamin said he really enjoys baseball and has been playing it since he was four.

He describes baseball as the “family sport.” His older twin brothers, Eli and Jacob, also play.

He’s not just a one-sport athlete, though. He also plays football, basketball, volleyball and badminton, and has tried a bit of golf and hockey along the way.

While in Phoenix, the team did a number of things together, such as going to see the Grand Canyon and a Cactus league fall baseball game, where he caught a home run ball hit by major league prospect, Curtis Paul. In that same game, he saw Blue Jays highly-touted prospect, T.J. Zeuch take the mound.

They also attended a Phoenix Suns basketball game and got a little preferential treatment, picking up free T-shirts. They also met some Seattle Mariners’ prospects who were at the game. And they got to go on to the court and play a little basketball themselves.

He said he definitely enjoyed himself and wants to do it again.

The trip doesn’t come without a cost though and, according to his mom, Benjamin worked hard to get the opportunity to go.

“The kids are always raking leaves or shovelling snow for people,” said Christie. “The community has been a great support. People are now calling him, getting him to do chores. One lady from Dodsland sent him $20. We aren’t sure who she is, but want to say thanks. Some other folks donated bottles for him to recycle. It’s been great.”

Also helping him were local businesses Cameron’s Clothing, G-Mac’s AgTeam and Supreme Source for Sports.

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