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The largest slo-pitch tournament North of 60 is happening in Whitehorse this week.
Dustball, which began Thursday, brings hundreds of players from across the Yukon, Alaska, B.C. and Alberta to the Yukon capital each summer.
This year, 66 teams have signed up.
Before any players took to the field, groundskeepers were hard at work. Some fields were already in excellent condition but the three diamonds off Robert Service Way required some extra attention.
Sarah Walz, the executive director of Softball Yukon, even took the extreme measure of trying to blowtorch weeds that had grown on some of the fields. Eventually she settled on using a 4×4 utility vehicle with a large rake attached to it.
“We’re just trying to put some elbow grease into these fields because it’s not always the greatest spot to play,” said Walz. “We are doing our best to make it a little bit better, ’cause we got a full slate of games down here.”
Walz herself is playing on two teams in the tournament.
“It’s been going on for a long time and people always get excited about it,” she said about the annual event. “We get a lot of returning teams, so you don’t want to disappoint the people that have been coming for years.”
Walz had help prepping the fields from a small but mighty grounds crew, mostly teenagers who play on the Sundogs softball teams. Walz is a Sundogs coach.
Kate Dumont, 12, was primarily on weed duty. It was her first job.
“It’s fine,” said Dumont. “I mean, it’s raking weeds.”
Ilya Slobodzian was another of the young groundskeepers. She said troubleshooting the best way to get rid of the weeds was entertaining.
“They had huge propane tanks in the back of a wagon just going by, blowtorching each weed,” said Slobodzian. “It was probably going to take us three or four months if they kept doing that.”
Slobodzian said seeing the progress has made the work rewarding.
“We’ve been out here pretty much since last week trying to get the fields all ready,” she said. “We’re just trying to get everything looking tip top.”
Slobodzian is too young to play in the tournament but will still be involved working the concession stand all weekend and continuing with her groundskeeping duties.
“Down the road I’ll be playing in Dustball for sure,” she said.
The tournament began Thursday evening with the finals set for Sunday afternoon.
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