In wait for a summer season in Minnesota, baseball is the last sport standing - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press

jarangoyange.blogspot.com

Coronavirus has all but killed the summer seasons for youth and amateur sports teams in Minnesota. As of Monday, baseball is the last sport standing.

The Minnesota Youth Soccer Association and Twin Cities Soccer Leagues canceled their seasons on May 22, and Minnesota Softball last week pulled the plug on any sort of regular season.

Youth and amateur baseball leagues, however, are still holding out hope. If they get the go-ahead from Gov. Tim Walz this week, they believe they can start abridged seasons by early July.

High school athletes were allowed to practicing with youth teams starting Monday, and youth and amateur leagues have gone ahead with practice sessions even if their seasons have been canceled. That includes 277 adult “town ball” teams that typically would have started their seasons on May 1.

“Most teams have lost a lot of games, so they’re just champing at the bit to get out there,” said Mark Forsman, vice president of the Minnesota Baseball Association. If the governor’s team gives them the go-ahead to move into competition, Forsman said, “We’re hoping we can start the season at least by July 1.”

Minnesota Youth Athletics Services, a non-profit that organizes leagues and tournaments for hundreds of local youth sports associations, is taking registrations for a youth baseball league to run from July 6-Aug. 14 but needs the state’s blessing soon.

“We are hoping to hear something this week,” MYAS executive director Dawson Blanck said. “The key word is ‘hoping.’ ”

If the green light comes, there might be an additional league — a co-op with Metro Baseball — for the players who lost their VFW and Legion seasons, canceled in May. Likewise, the East Metro league comprising teams from Woodbury, Stillwater, Cretin-Derham Hall, Central, Highland Park and North St. Paul, among others, plans to play starting July 1 and finish with a championship tournament the second weekend in August.

“We’re optimistic with us being within that (medium-risk) category,” Blanck said. “The conversation seems to be that baseball and softball are the most likely green light.”

Softball won’t have any sort of regular season but given the green light could put together a championship tournament similar to the one with which it typically ends a season, said Tom Bye, director of Tri-County Fastpitch League and a commissioner with Minnesota Softball, which organizes more than 700 teams for girls ages under-8 to under-18.

The season was canceled after a Zoom meeting on June 9, when scheduling that many teams for a season had become impossible. “That was our breaking point; there was no way we could do all that,” Bye said. “But by that point, a good half of the associations had already pulled the plug.”

With a green light for competition this week, Bye said there still could be a season-ending invitational tournament with as many as 30 teams. Groups already are looking for venues that would accommodate small sub-tournaments.

That’s more than soccer clubs will get this summer. Local clubs are holding contact-less training sessions as a medium-risk sport, according to state guidelines, and are confident there will be a full fall season. But a summer without games has left parents and organizers frustrated.

Baseball and softball teams in Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota already have begun playing games, and Blanck said some Minnesota youth teams have traveled out of state for competition. Town baseball teams have been doing that, too, according to Forsman. That has led some parents to ask local groups why they aren’t playing games.

“We’re just trying to make sure it’s safe to get the kids back to playing,” Bye said.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, there were six new COVID-related deaths on Monday, the lowest reported total since April 12. Hospitalizations are trending downward, as well, but there were 230 new lab-confirmed cases.

Minnesota has posted detailed guidelines for youth sports operating during the pandemic, but youth sports organizers have often felt unsure of what exactly the state needed, from teams or virus trends.

“Throughout this whole process, we were never quite sure of the criteria they’re using to make decisions. It would be helpful to know the criteria they’re using to make decisions so we could cater our plan to the criteria,” said Matt Tiano, CEO of Twin Cities Soccer Leagues. “More than ever, kids need structured, outdoor activities with their friends.”

Let's block ads! (Why?)

"wait" - Google News
June 16, 2020 at 05:47AM
https://ift.tt/2N0dZEX

In wait for a summer season in Minnesota, baseball is the last sport standing - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
"wait" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35qAU4J
https://ift.tt/2Ssyayj

Bagikan Berita Ini