BSC Hickory launches BBQ-Liga Starttoernooi as spring baseball season begins

BSC Hickory used the BBQ-Liga Starttoernooi to put its spring calendar in motion, and the timing fit the club’s identity perfectly. The Winterswijk club, founded in 1979 and based at sportpark ’t Huitinkveld on Bataafseweg, framed the opening tournament as part sport, part club life, with room for competitive baseball and a recreational atmosphere.

The club’s 2026 BBQ-Liga calendar listed the season-opening tournament in Winterswijk on April 12, followed by stops in Wesseling, Bottrop, Hausdülmen and Herne, before a final tournament back in Winterswijk on either September 4 or September 11. That schedule turns the BBQ-Liga into a season-long circuit rather than a one-off event, with Hickory at the center of a cross-border recreational format that keeps players active well beyond opening day.

That broader picture matters in Winterswijk, where Hickory shares the complex with FC Trias and Outdoor Winterswijk and operates from a combi baseball-softball field and clubhouse. The club’s homepage also showed how early April was filling fast with activity: Hickory U12 faced Tex Town Tigers U12 on April 5, and a Pupillen U12 tournament took place on March 29. The Starttoernooi sat within that same stretch of youth and senior programming, giving the club a full weekend-and-week rhythm as the season settled in.

Hickory’s 2025 BBQ-Liga start tournament adds useful context. The club called it a success and said diverse top teams from Germany traveled to Winterswijk to compete against Hickory’s recreational team. In that same wrap-up, Hickory said a cooperation had formed between Thunderducks Hausdülmen and BSC Hickory Winterswijk, underlining how the BBQ-Liga has become a social bridge as much as a sporting one.

The setup also fits the seasonal pattern laid down by KNBSB, the national authority for baseball and softball in the Netherlands. Its 2026 competition regulations generally place official competitions between April and October, which makes an early-April start event a natural way to launch the year. Hickory’s leadership, including chairman Robert de Jong, secretary and acting senior competition secretary Willem-Jan ten Berg, treasurer Jort ten Berg and youth competition secretary Monique Heijboer, gives the club the structure to run that kind of mixed programme. For Hickory, the Starttoernooi was not just a date on the calendar; it was the opening signal for a season built on games, volunteers and a club culture that keeps local baseball moving.