It's still baseball. That's the sentiment from Carillon Sultans coach Jamieson Krentz who has seen his 18U AAA team tear it up this season to the tune of a 10-0 perfect record in the Winnipeg AAA Baseball Association.

While the team is firing on ally cylinders, Krentz remembers back to when playing baseball this year seemed like a dream more than a reality. "We really didn't know if we would get to be on the field. Baseball Manitoba told us that we were not apart of the first opening of sports because baseball is a contact sport. We were really worried we would not get a season. But, because Manitoba is doing so well in regards to the virus, things started moving forward and Baseball Manitoba put things together very quickly. We're very thankful."

As can be imagined, it's quite different at the ballpark from years past. "Sometimes I feel like I'm doing more monitoring for hygiene and stuff like that than coaching baseball" Krentz says with a laugh. "Some of the changes are that we have a Health and Safety person on our team. Their job, it's a parent of ours, is to bring the wipes, spray and hand sanitizer. As players get to the field, they have to apply that before they even take the field. Any baseballs we use is just for our team, the other team supplies their own baseballs just to avoid cross contamination."

Krentz is most impressed with the character of his team and their love of the game through these unusual times. "At the start of the year, there were some kids a bit upset about not going to Provincials or Nationals or Westerns to play for so we set a goal to get into the Winnipeg Playdowns, which we did. I know the group of kids we have love the game of baseball. They want to put their best foot forward and a lot of the guys have more years to come, they're thinking about college ball. This is a really great group, they all get along and it's been a lot of fun."

There are two more games remaining in the season before the playoffs towards the end of August.

Through it all, Krentz believes it's all pretty simple. "The thing is once you get to the baseball diamond... of course there are more rules and for myself, it's something we have to think about to keep everyone safe. But once the kids get out there, it's still baseball. They love to be out there and I love to be out there as well."