Witset First Nation softball team celebrates 100 years of playing in northwest B.C.

A First Nation in northwestern British Columbia is celebrating its softball team's centennial anniversary with a tournament this weekend.

The Witset First Nation, previously known as Moricetown, is the home base of the MoricetownCubs, originally founded as a baseball team in 1923.

The team is hosting a men's softballtournament on Aug.5-6 in Witset, a Wet'suwet'en village located approximately 212 kilometres east of Prince Rupert in the province's northwest.

The event at Alfred Mitchell Memorial Ballparkwill include other teamsincluding Prince George's Big Guy Lake and Vanderhoof Rippers.

DesMcKinnon,48, manager of the Moricetown Cubs, inherited his role from his grandfather, Alfred Mitchell, who also played for the team.

According to McKinnon, nearly every current member of the team has ancestors who were involved with the Cubs at some point. The team switched to playing softball in 1977.

McKinnonsays he didn't know how the team was founded, but learned from his grandfatherthat the name Moricetown Cubs was the result of a compromise among the founding members.

"One name [they considered] was Cougars, the other one named [the team] Bears, and the third guy wanted to name [the team] the Wolves, and instead of arguing, [they decided that] the offspring of those three animals were called Cubs," he said.

Team brought people together, says former player

In its early years, the Cubs faced restrictionsand were only able to play in the Bulkley Valley Baseball League, which included teams from neighbouring communitieslike Hazelton, Fort Babine, Smithers, Telkwa and Houston.

Therestrictions were due to the so-called "pass system," which required Indigenous people to present a travel document to leave and return to their reserves. It was imposed by the federal government after the 1885 Northwest Resistance.

After the pass system ended in the early 20th century, the Cubs were able to travel freely and compete in baseball and softballtournaments outside the Bulkley Valley region, making their way totop-three placements in tournaments during the '60s.

Des's father, Gary McKinnon, originally from Fort St. James,joined the Cubs in 1971 atage 17, before retiring from the sportseveral years ago.

Gary says hefondly remembers travellingwith teammates to various cities for tournaments, and he's lookingforward to seeing team membersand fans coming together in Witset this weekend.

"[The Moricetown Cubs team] brought people together, like the sport itself," Gary said.

According to the Moricetown Cubs, this weekend'stournament champion will be awarded a grand prize of $10,000, the first runner-up will receive $7,500, and the second runner-up will get $5,000.