Bats and gloves have been replaced by hockey sticks and pucks.

Or soccer balls and volleyballs.

The 2017 baseball season is in the history books.

"We had a really good season as an organization again," said Carillon Minor Baseball Association president Louis Cote. "Numbers were up. Not as drastic as they were in years past but that was expected because we rose 25% for two years in a row so you can't really expect that to keep climbing, but it still climbed a bit. The interest level in our high performance and extra baseball programs were up and generally there was a lot more enthusiasm than in the past."

Carillon minor ball encompasses a huge area that includes Steinbach, Mitchell, Niverville, Lac du Bonnet, La Broquerie, St. Malo, Grunthal, Kleefeld, Blumenort, Vassar, Beausejour-Brokenhead, Landmark, Seine River and Vita.

"The majority of communities are improving their ball diamonds," said Cote. "Generally it starts with the baseball organizations and they're rallying their municipal governments around them. We've had three or four organizations that have improved their facilities which is great since it gives us a better opportunity to host Provincials and Western Canadian championships."

One of the highlights of the past baseball season was the championship run of the La Broquerie A's who captured the Provincial and Western Canada Bantam AA titles.

"That was very exciting for the community and for the region without a doubt," commented Cote. "Even more exciting was the amount of effort the parent group put into running that provincial championship in La Broquerie. We had to do a lot of upgrades to the diamonds. We put in bullpens and improved the infield as well. The whole parent group of 10-12 parents were there multiple hours before the provincials just to get things going."

Cote says it's no secret why so many youngsters want to play ball in the region.

"We still follow that same philosophy where community baseball comes first. We've tried to stress that because if we were ever to take our top players and make a regional team year-round, smaller communities wouldn't be able to survive. All the kids and parents understand that for May and June they play in their communities. We designate one night a week for high performance programs but other than that, it's community ball and it's getting more kids out and enjoying the game."