Loughborough, Kingston leagues merge

As had been rumoured for a while, it's been officially announced that the Loughborough Men's Fastball League and the Kingston Men's Fastball League are merging for the 2017 season. Some information here: http://www.ckwstv.com/2017/04/12/fastball-leagues-merge/

‘I think fastball had to go this way’

Kingston Whig-Standard - Doug Graham

One league’s demise is another league’s saviour.

The Loughborough Fastball League, one of the mainstays for men’s fastball for the past five decades, has folded.

The Kingston Men’s Fastball League, which operates out of Garrigan Park, is now the lone competitive men’s fastball loop in the area.

“The way I look at it is the Loughborough league has essentially folded and now we are looking at an expanded Kingston Men’s Fastball League,” Brad Ethier, president of the KMFL, said.

“To be honest, I think fastball had to go this way. If we did not do something like this, I think it would have been the beginning of the end.”

The KMFL has absorbed most of the players from the defunct Loughborough league. The result is the KMFL, which operated with six teams last year — but had two fold for this season — will operate in a nine-team, two-division format.

Ethier said the league has been split into East and West divisions.

The East teams — defending-champion Dig’N Dirt, the Red Dogs, the A’s and Ice Cold Pitchers — will play home games out of Garrigan Park.

The West teams — the Napanee intermediates, North Fredericksburgh, the Napanee midgets, Sydenham and Enterprise — will play their home games at the Napanee Fairgrounds.

The genesis of the merger of Loughborough players into the KMFL came from a request by the league’s president.

“We were asked to consider merging because otherwise they were looking at folding. But there were a lot of guys that still wanted to play ball,” said Ethier, who put the suggestion before the KMFL teams to consider and is enthused over what the merger has brought. “Basically, the consensus was [our teams] wanted to do the merger.

“I think it is going to be pretty good. Our league last year had four teams within five points. Then you add some good, quality players and pitchers from the west and I think it is going to be a pretty solid league.”

Ethier, who played fastball for more than 20 years before hanging up his cleats, said some players have been playing in both leagues in past seasons.

Now they will all be playing in one league, giving it more depth.

“Of the nine teams, I would say a good seven of them have a top pitcher with a not so bad second one. I think it is going to be very competitive,” Ethier said.

The league will begin its 20-game schedule Monday night with games at Garrigan Park and in Napanee.