Men’s softball world cup kicks off in Prince Albert

(Jasmine Pelletier / CTV News)

Prince Albert is ready to host the world’s best men’s softball players.

Eight teams are competing for the title of men’s softball world champion at the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) World Cup, which kicks off July 8 at Prime Ministers Park.

Canada won silver at the previous event in 2022.

“Not gonna lie, 2022 hurt a lot,” said Team Canada Captain Shane Boland.

“Being so close, but so far. So usually our motto is, how we steer our ship is, ‘if you’re not first, you’re last.’ So, we’re here for one goal, and that is to come back out on top. But it is nice to be back in our own country so hopefully we can get to that game.”

Team Canada, ranked fourth in the world, will play in Group A, alongside world number one Argentina, 5th ranked Venezuela, and the 8th ranked New Zealanders.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

“We’re very excited with the 16 athletes that we’ve chosen,” said Team Canada Head Coach John Stuart.

“We’re fully prepared. We had a good prep tournament with the Four Nations last week. So we expect every game to be a dogfight right down to the last inning.”

Chair of the local organizing committee Ian Litzenberger said this moment has been 10 years in the making.

“It’s been a decade, right? We know so many of us have put in the time right from the start,” said Litzenberger.

“To see and to think that first pitch is tomorrow at 11:30 is just, as I mentioned earlier, just so humbling. At the end of the day, we get to watch some amazing ball, but we get to leave a legacy for this community.”

Two Saskatchewan-born players will be representing Canada this week: Saskatoon’s Devon McCullough and Delisle’s Max Major.

Canada plays its first game July 8 at 8:30 p.m. against New Zealand.