After winning two provincial championships together, the Chatham 15U Diamonds may have played their last game together as a team.
Head Coach Paul Brown wants to keep his 15U team intact next season at the 16U level but has been denied by local and regional baseball leagues.
The Chatham Minor Baseball Association (CMBA) doesn’t offer a team between the 15U and 18U levels, and executives don’t plan on making an exception.
In an open letter on the CMBA website, the league said its decision not to offer a 16U team was based on history and the significant implications it would create for the league to operate any sort of rep team at the 18U level next year and in the future.
"CMBA has historically fielded 18U teams which is a team comprised of three age groups and each year the organization struggles to find enough players to field a competitive 18U team, even with the three-year age composition," read the letter. "The fact of the matter is that players historically at these ages identify other priorities and the numbers begin to dwindle after 14U and 15U."
The team has been offered a spot through the Blenheim Minor Baseball Association to play as a 16U team next season. However, in order to keep the whole team together, each Diamonds player would need a release from the CMBA, which denied the blanket request.
"That's what we want," said Brown. "We just want a release to go do that but we're being told it's not in the best interest of the association."
Brown sent a request to the Western Counties Baseball Association to see if they would support a 16U team, but he said they denied that request, too.
"We need to wait until the end of the year and send Chatham [minor baseball] individual requests for release to be able to try out for other 16U teams," said Brown.
The CMBA said the release denial "in no way" denies any of those players the opportunity to keep playing baseball "contrary to what is being perpetuated on social media."
"They have options that they are fully aware of," read the letter. "We want nothing but the best for all of our 700 players and the Executive would not be upholding our responsibilities if we overlooked the repercussions and impact to all players, not just the 2007-aged players."