(submitted photo/Meadow Lake Minor Baseball)

By Nicole Reis

LET'S PLAY BALL

Baseball, softball practices resume in Meadow Lake

Jun 22, 2020 | 5:20 PM

While most summer activities and youth sport camps were postponed due to the pandemic, the local baseball and softball seasons will return although players will be solely focused on practice with no games or travel for now.

Regan Beck, president of the Meadow Lake Minor Baseball told meadowlakeNOW the current registration for the shortened summer baseball and softball season is at capacity and organizers are no longer accepting registrations. The capacity limits were set according to stipulations laid out in the current phase of the province’s reopen plan. The phase permits team members to practice, train, and evaluate players for team selection.

“We’re not as full as we have been in the past but we’re as full as we can possibly make it work with the new restrictions,” Beck said. “What has been opened is stage one of return to play. In this stage we’re allowed to practice, train and get ready for the season.“

Beck said he’s keeping an eye on reopening developments. Since launching the portal for registration last week, nearly 265 ball players have expressed interest in getting back in the game. While teams may be able to practice, announcements have not yet been made concerning games or travel.

“We’re watching and we’re ready to go,” he said. “We thought we’d see a huge reduction in numbers but really we didn’t see that at all. Now it’s a matter of making logistics work.”

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City manager Diana Burton confirmed the city did have plans to run youth day camps this year but those plans were cancelled when the pandemic began. The city will likely consider running them next year.

Return to Play

Most of the return to train and play guidelines plan is devoted to regular sanitizing of equipment and facilities. On June 9, Baseball Sask. released the 12-page document detailing sanitation guidelines and social distancing protocols. This includes:

• Physical distancing must take place in and outside the dugout, including players and coaches. Therefore, there can only be as many people in a dugout at one time as is permitted by physical distancing. For example, if a dugout is 20-feet long, there could be no more than four people in the dugout at once, and each person must stay at least six feet away from other people.
• At any facility with more than one baseball field, each player, coach, official or person involved at a field must stay at the field their practice is taking place. They cannot go over to the other field(s) and watch as they may contribute to the breaking of the maximum number of people permitted in an outdoor gathering. Each field is considered one outdoor gathering, so long as people do not cross over into other fields.
• All discussion or coaching through any means to include reminders to players regarding social distancing, no spitting, no face touching, no contact between the athletes.
• Any instances of arguing with umpires within social distancing minimum requirements may be met with a suspension for the remainder of the year.

The 2020 provincial championships have also been cancelled.

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nicole.reis@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @nicolereis7722