With the World Series canceled, local Little Leagues are preparing for altered seasons
Sadness was the common thread that tied together the thoughts of local Little League Baseball presidents when the league’s World Series was canceled Thursday afternoon due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m incredibly sad,” Bellefonte Little League President Bill Carey told the Centre Daily Times. “It’s an institution, particularly here in Pennsylvania. I immediately thought of our 12-year-olds, who have spent their entire Little League careers with the dream of someday playing in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. That’s a lofty dream, but every kid has it and it was just yanked out from under them.”
Little League President Stephen Keener announced the cancellation of the World Series, as well as the championships in six other Little League divisions, in a Facebook Live broadcast Thursday. Little League International followed that up with a press release on its website.
This marks the first time the Little League World Series has been canceled since it began in 1947.
“After a thorough assessment of the impact the devastating COVID-19 pandemic has had on 6,500 community-based Little League programs in 84 countries and based upon the direction of governmental and public health authorities,” the organization’s release read, “and in consultation with medical professionals and our board of directors, Little League International has made the difficult and disappointing decision to cancel its seven World Series tournaments and their respective regional qualifying events.”
But while the World Series has been canceled, the 2020 regular season has not yet been called off. Little League International on March 16 postponed the start of the season until May 11. As that date approaches, local Little Leagues are still planning to play out their regular seasons, but are awaiting further instruction from Little League International, as well as local government and public health officials.
Carey and the Bellefonte Little League hoped to begin practicing on May 11, with a return to games as soon as Centre County entered the “green phase” of the state’s reopening plan. However, that plan is in limbo after state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said the yellow phase, which Centre County will enter on Friday, does not include a return of organized sports. Carey reached out to state Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Benner Township, for clarification on the matter, but hadn’t received a response as of Saturday afternoon.
The league already has a strict deadline because of another sport’s importance in Bellefonte.
“We have a hard stop of Aug. 1,” Carey said. “That’s when we lose a large percentage of our players to football. Whatever we do has to happen between Memorial Day and Aug. 1.”
Bellefonte isn’t the only Little League with its season in jeopardy, but it does have more reason for urgency. Other local leagues, like Nittany Valley Little League and State College Little League, could combine their summer season with their fall season. Those Little Leagues have the flexibility to wait for decisions because they offer several leagues, and don’t have a set final date for when the summer season must start.
State College Little League President Corey Dillon said his league’s use of the local baseball fields, most of which are currently closed, will dictate when the teams can play.
“That’s going to have an impact on us,” he said. “But our goal is to have a season at some point, with the safety of our players, coaches and fans as the top priority.”
While the decision to cancel the World Series was upsetting for Dillon and Nittany Little League President Ronnie Carlson, neither were surprised by the outcome.
“I think with everything that was going on, you could kind of see it coming,” Carlson said. “It’s a really unfortunate situation but one I think, ultimately, everybody saw coming.”
All three leagues are expecting less turnout for various reasons, ranging from interference with vacation to concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus. Dillon said he and his league are doing their best to find a way to ease potential concerns.
“We’re hoping we can put the right package together with safety protocols and following all of the recommendations,” he said. “We’re actually reaching out to some of the experts in our area just to get an idea of things we need to be thinking about. Hopefully that will ease some apprehension for some people that are on the fence.”
The turnout of players is one potential factors the league presidents will have to consider, as is the condition of the fields. All three league presidents already have plans in place to finish getting fields ready to play on. Carlson expressed some concern about the number of fields his league will have available to use.
The Nittany League owns two of its fields, but its other four fields are owned by the townships they’re located in. Carlson said they have no control of when they’ll be able to get back on those fields, and that could hamper the season.
“That’s another hurdle we’re working on right now,” he said. “We’re at the mercy of them right now and seeing what they do. ... I don’t know what the number of teams would have to be where we could put practices and games on just two fields. It would be tough.”
The Bellefonte, Nittany and State College Little Leagues are all working through their own sets of issues as they remain hopeful a summer season will happen. For Carey and the Bellefonte Little League, they’re already trying to stock up on items they would need to have a season and keep the players, coaches, and fans as safe as possible, including hand sanitizer. His first priority is everyone’s safety amid the pandemic. He wants to ensure all of their bases are covered when it comes to public health.
Once that is taken care of, Carey just wants to give the kids a chance to play.
“These kids are desperate to get on a baseball field,” he said. “We’re going to do everything we can to make that happen.”
This story was originally published May 2, 2020 at 4:26 PM.
