With spring officially in the air, the City of Troy will now begin to turn its attention to fields of the Sportsplex.

During the next couple of months children of all ages will be running the base paths and fielding ground balls during the recreation baseball and softball season.

But before the games can begin, the teams must each be formally introduced.

And on Friday night, they will be.

The Opening Ceremonies for the 2010 season will begin at 7 p.m. at a place not normally known for its baseball activities – Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium.

Undoubtedly, each of the players and coach will be excited, but they won’t be the only ones.

“Over the course of the year, opening ceremonies is always the greatest day and night of our celebration with the community and the youth of Troy,” Troy Parks and Recreation director Dan Smith said.

During the hour-long ceremony, all of the teams, from the ages of four to 12, will be introduced.

All in all there will be 60 total teams represented from both baseball and softball.

This will be the fifth year the ceremony will take place at Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium, and is a place that Smith said is perfect for the ceremony.

“Everything got too big a couple of years ago and so we had to find something bigger and Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium was an excellent venue for what we were looking for,” he said.

But for this event to take place, Smith said a lot of work is put in to make sure the ceremony is ready for all to enjoy.

“It takes our entire staff to get (the ceremony) going,” Smith said. “It’s a lot of work.”

“But we all take a lot of pride in seeing all the kids there.

“To see al the teams at the ceremony and on the field during the season is one of the greatest rewards of the job,” he added.

The festivities will begin at 7 p.m, Friday night, and will continue with opening day on Saturday when the games begin that morning.