Portages Baseball Association officially formed

Tashi Farmilo

The Hull and Aylmer amateur baseball associations have officially merged to form the Association de Baseball des Portages, the largest baseball organization in the Outaouais region. The new association will launch its operations with a public event on February 3 at 6:00 pm at the Maison du citoyen, as reported by Radio Canada.

The Association de Baseball des Portages will bring together nearly 700 youth players aged 4 to 21. Before the merger, the Aylmer association had approximately 450 members, while Hull had around 150. Organizers attribute the expected growth in registrations to increasing interest in the sport, supported by national enthusiasm around the Toronto Blue Jays.

Discussions about a possible merger began over a decade ago and gained momentum in recent years. A pilot project was tested over the past three seasons with combined under-15 and under-18 teams. That collaboration was considered successful and helped pave the way for the full integration.

One of the primary goals of the new association is to improve fairness in team composition across both recreational and competitive levels. With a larger player base, the new structure will allow better distribution of athletes by skill level and age group, addressing long-standing challenges related to uneven registration numbers in each sector.

Officials from the former Hull and Aylmer associations will now serve on the executive of the new organization. To maintain community balance, half of local games and events will be hosted in Hull and the other half in Aylmer.

The launch event on February 3 will include the unveiling of the new colours and visual identity, an outline of strategic plans for future seasons, and the presentation of key partners.