On Deck – Learn to Play Baseball
Welcome to the Ontario Women’s Baseball League new player page! We’re the longest continuous all-female baseball league in existence in Canada and we’re looking to expand in 2025!
Who should join? Women, Trans-Women, or other non-male identifying people who want to be active, meet new people, and join a team. You should be willing to learn and push yourself! We are welcoming players and teams ranging from no experience to highly experienced. Our league consists of newbies, softball players, baseball moms, players returning after extended leaves from the sport, and players who have played baseball their whole life.
Currently, our league has a competitive division, and depending on interest we will add a recreational division. We have also created the On Deck – Learn to Play Baseball program for new players to learn the sport.
The On Deck program will initially consist of 8 weeks of baseball fundamentals (e.g. throwing, hitting, catching) taught by players volunteers in our competitive OWBL division. Each week you will work on different baseball skills and at the end of the 8 weeks, you will play ball in modified exhibition games to put what you learned into action. You will need to become familiar with the Rules of the Game and can also get a head start training at home by watching our videos on our YouTube Channel, Baseball with Toronto Fusion.
*Information below is preliminary and subject to change.
The On Deck program is open to new and existing players. The fee to participate in the On Deck program is $225. Existing players registered in regular league play can participate in On Deck for no additional fee.
ON DECK PROGRAM SCHEDULE FOR 2025
STARTS: May 14th, 2025
DURATION: Every Wednesday until August 27, 2024 (16 on-field sessions)
LOCATION: Queensway Park @ 8 Avon Park Drive (The Queensway/Royal York Rd)
TIME: 6:15pm to 7:30pm
Each session will have a theme but will not necessarily only focus on the skills listed below. This is simply a guide so you have an idea of what each session will entail.
May 14, 2024 = Session 1 – Throwing / Catching / Ground Balls
May 21, 2024 = Session 2 – Outfielding / Infielding / Fly Balls
May 28, 2024 = Session 3 – Hitting
June 4, 2024 = Session 4 – More Hitting
June 11, 2024 = Session 5 – Base Running
June 18, 2024 = Session 6 – Relays / Basic Situational Plays
June 25, 2024 = Session 7 – Pitching / Catcher Skills
July 2, 2024 = Session 8 – Even More Hitting / Bunting
July 9, 2024 = Game 1 – Let’s put everything we’ve learned into a game!
July 16, 2024 = Game 2
July 23, 2024 = Session 9 – Revisit some skills we need to work on
July 30, 2024 = Game 3
August 6, 2024 = Game 4
August 13, 2024 = Session 10 – Revisit some skills we need to work on
August 20, 2024 – Game 5
August 27, 2024 – Game 6
Notes on Equipment: Players must wear long pants to each session/game. Baseball pants are great, but sweatpants or other athletic pants are okay too. Cleats are highly recommended. A baseball glove is also good to bring if you have one. But if not, we will have extra gloves people can borrow. If you’d like some tips on where to purchase these items (new or used), reach out to us by email and we can give you some suggestions.
Cancellations: Our diamonds are all outdoors. In the event of a cancellation due to weather, we may relocate to an indoor location such as a nearby bar or indoor location to have fun, discuss baseball skills or just hang out. We will try our best to reschedule the cancelled sessions onto another time when OWBL has diamonds, potentially a Monday or later on Wednesday night.
Note: As you develop in the program, you may be eligible for playing in regular league games for an additional fee if interested.
